


Grimm Tales: A RWBY Fanfiction

by WriterZero



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-04-22 19:58:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 28,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14316048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterZero/pseuds/WriterZero
Summary: This fanfic focuses on an original cast that makes up Team Ariel as they try their best to pass Beacon Academy and become huntsmen and huntresses. Chronologically, this story takes place before canon and has little to nothing to do with the original canon as far as plot or characters are concerned.





	1. The story begins with an airship ride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our protagonist, Leiah Prima, stands on an airship that will take her to a new chapter in her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is happening on the airship right in the beginning of Volume 1 of the anime canon, for refference.

Leiah sighed and watched through the window of the airship at the city they were slowly approaching. In the centre of the city stood one of the highest pieces of architecture in Vale, Beacon Academy, where the Airship was heading.

She looked around the airship and saw people like her – soon to be students of Beacon, ready to study and train to become huntsmen and huntresses. They all had their reasons. Some did so because they wanted to learn how to do it. Most probably did it because their parents wanted them to. A few might have their own reason for learning how to fight the creatures of Grimm.

Leiah was like most – her whole life had simply led up to her becoming a huntress and nothing else. Having to go through school to become a huntress seemed a bit unnecessary to her. Unlike most, she was raised in a way that exposed her to Grimm from a young age. She’s even killed a few by now, but never officially – she was only following the huntsmen like it was nothing more than a field exercise. The whole idea was simply to gain her own huntress licence so she could be paid for killing Grimm instead of exterminating them like sport.

Leiah grew up in a very remote village with little to no outside contact. The village was small and being disconnected from normal civilization made the villagers… strange. She was glad she got out, even if only for the duration of her stay in Beacon. There were very little children her age, and most were not even allowed to leave their homes. The villagers all wore robes. Leiah just shrugged it off as some sort of cultural thing.

Turning back to reality, she noticed the airship had begun to descend. The other future students like her began to notice it and started running to the windows to get their first glimpse of their new home. Leiah knew they were excited, but some were also scared. She could see it in their faces, and in their eyes. Was it the new lifestyle? The beginning of a new chapter of their lives? Some of them might not have seen a Grimm in their lives.

Leiah felt excited as well, for her own reasons. She was finally free from the weird village she grew up in. She was finally experiencing proper civilization. She felt like she belonged somehow for the first time in her life.

“Are you a new student too?” a voice sounded from her left, a blind spot created by her scarf, that covered half of her face. Another piece of the strange uniform she’s been wearing since she can remember – a piece of her past she was uncomfortable to leave behind, no matter how awkward it made her feel sometimes.

“You can tell?” she answered with a smirk.

“You’re kind of obvious with that look on your face,” the young man her age extended his hand towards her. “The name’s Alexander Glorian.”

The girl turned her head towards him to get a better look at him. He had thick dark hair combed away from his face, almost like a dark crown. He was bigger than her by quite a lot (which didn’t say much when compared to her small size), and very strongly built. He was dressed in pretty simple clothing, which was covered in pieces of armour that was something between gold and silver, covering his torso and his limbs.

She took his hand. “Leiah. Leiah Prima,” she quickly added.

“So, where are you from?” he asked.

“Small village down south. You wouldn’t know it,” she shrugged off his question. It was unimportant. She didn’t even want to think about it while she was here.

“Try me,” he smirked, but Leiah simply laughed and looked away, ignoring his question.

“And what brings you to Beacon?” he continued.

“The museums,” she rolled her eyes. “Training to become a huntress, obviously.”

“I mean, how come you wanna be a huntress? Everyone has their reason.”

“A bit deep for when you’ve just met someone, don’t you think?”

“I’ll tell you my reason if you tell me yours,” he promised.

“I wanna learn how to kill Grimm,” she said simply.

“That’s it?”

“What else did you expect? My parents signed me up for it, like everyone else,” she lied. She grew up in the village, sure, but she didn’t know who her parents were. They might be one of the villagers, but they’ve never revealed themselves to her, leaving the village to take care of her upbringing. She didn’t mind. The other kids in the village were raised in the same way – by the village.

“To be honest, I’m the same,” he admitted and slouched his previously confident shoulders slightly. “My dad was a huntsman, my mom was a huntress, their parents were huntsmen, so on and so forth, so now I get to become a huntsman like them and my older brothers and sisters.”

“Sounds like you’re not completely okay with the concept,” Leiah pointed out.

“And you are?” he asked, but it must have been a rhetorical question as he continued. “I know, it’s a bit of a drag, having been pushed into this by my whole family, but I’m a pretty good fighter and I’ve been training ever since I was strong enough to pick up a weapon.”

Leiah stared at him for a second, not knowing how to reply, then looked away through the window again. They’re about to land soon.

“Umm, I’m sorry if this whole conversation’s been a bit awkward, but you seemed interesting, so I said I’d talk to you,” he laughed uncomfortably and looked away as well.

“You’re honest. I can appreciate that.”

They watched the surrounding landscape as the ship landed, and walked towards the school grounds together, still talking.


	2. Initiation (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The individual students have just been launched into the forest, where they have to find and retrieve artifacts and randomly stumble upon their new teammates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is obviously happening like the initiation episode of the anime (for refference).

The feeling of falling made Leiah a bit sick in her stomach, but she managed to keep a clear head and reached for her weapon, fastened behind her back. It was a dagger-like weapon, except the blade seemed to be too wide for the short hilt, and it was shaped like an arrow, or like a harpoon.

She gripped the hilt with both hands, placing one over the other, and pressed a button hidden near the blade as soon as she entered the treeline. The dagger’s blade suddenly shot out, connected to the hilt she was holding by only a fine chain, extending for several meters, until it found the thick branch she was aiming at and wrapping itself around it.

The chain snapped as it reached its full length, threating to pull the hilt out of Leiah’s hands, had she not been gripping it so hard. She pressed another button near the end of the hilt, which started retracting the chain back into it, pulling her towards the branch she hit. She jerked the blade free from the wood right before she hit it herself, then wrapping her hands around it, stopped. Her landing technique might not have been as elegant, but at least she did it safely.

She took a few seconds to calm her breathing and remember the instructions the new students were given. Trek through the forest, find an ancient temple ruin, and bring back a relic that was set there. Additionally, let nothing stop you (she assumed that was referring to Grimm), and the first person you make eye contact with will be your teammate for the rest of your time at Beacon.

After she climbed down the tree not as gracefully as she’d like to admit, she started walking in the opposite direction of the one she just flew in from. Naturally, the ancient temple ruin wouldn’t be right under the cliff they launched from, would it? She groaned at the thought that it might be, but kept her direction anyways.

Her walk was fairly boring and uneventful for quite a while, though sometimes she thought she heard sounds of distant battles and gunfire. The forest varied in thickness as she went, so it was impossible to know how far away those battles might have been, so she decided to ignore them for now and kept walking, her dagger ready.

She heard them coming before she saw their red eyes staring at her from the darkness. Grimm were approaching, but the pack couldn’t be much larger than half a dozen. They were small and seemed relatively tame, probably because they lived in an area new huntsmen were deliberately sent into each year.

The girl faced their eyes and tensed, ready to either pounce or evade at any hint of an attack. The pack circled her, sniffing the air the whole time, trying to figure out whether or not this creature before them was a common human, terrified prey they could feast on, or a huntress in training who will attack them back.

The brush suddenly shook for a second time, and Alexander burst out in full armour and helmet, wielding a ball and chain type flail. Having lost the element of surprise, he let out a battle cry and attacked the first Grimm he could reach.

Because the battle had started, the Grimm had no other option but to attack. The nearest one to Leiah leaped at her, but before she could slash at it with her weapon, it suddenly fell as if it had miscalculated the pounce, had it not been for a dark arrow protruding from its head. Leiah turned around and saw another arrow flying out from the direction Alexander came from, hitting another nearby Grimm, wounding its neck. Leiah quickly finished it.

“Attack from the back!” a female voice sounded from the same direction. “Beowolf’s hind legs can’t extend enough to kick you, and they can’t turn around as fast!”

Leiah, not used to receiving instructions, tried following this person’s advice, but ended up dealing with the Grimm at hand in her own way anyways. She danced around it’s giant claws until she found the opportunity to strike, and she did so as many times as it took until the Grimm started disintegrating, then she moved on to the next.

The whole battle was over in less than a minute. She killed 2 Grimm (not counting the one she finished off from an arrow’s shot), Alexander must have then killed off at least 3 more, because there were enough arrows scattered around to account for the remaining Grimm that surrounded her earlier.

“Good thing we found you when we did, otherwise you’d be in some serious trouble,” Alexander laughed as he rested his flail on his shoulder. His full armour retracted back into its out-of-battle form Leiah saw him in on the airship, and the helmet disappeared into a hood-like attachment on the upper part of his back armour.

“You’re still by yourself?” Alexander suddenly noticed.

“I haven’t run into anyone yet,” Leiah shrugged.

“That’s awesome, because we’re short a member,” a male voice sounded from the bushes. A boy and a girl emerged from their hiding places.

The boy was dressed in what seemed like an old-fashioned hunter’s tunic and pants, both in almost the exact shade of green as the forest that surrounded them. He carried a very long bow, which was almost longer than Leiah was tall. It even had sights mounted near its grip for better precision when aiming. This was obviously not a hunter’s bow, but a huntsman’s.

The girl next to him was definitely smaller than the length of the bow. She wore a red frilly dress with black sleeves, along with black leggings and dark red boots reaching up to her knees. Her hair was a muted dark red and weaved into a complex braid that reached down to her waist. She was armed with a halberd, which would suit someone of Alexander’s build more than someone as small as her.

“Does this mean we have a full team now?” she asked, her voice less determined than what Leiah heard in the middle of the battle.

“According to the rules, she’s part of the team, like it or not. She and Alexander made obvious eye contact right before the battle began,” the hunter said.

“I think you’re right,” Alexander nodded.

“You saw that?” the girl gasped.

“I had a pretty good view of the battlefield from where I was standing,” the hunter shrugged.

“Amazing!” Alexander laughed, turning to Leiah. “We ended up on the same team after all!”

“You two know each other?” the girl asked.

“Yeah, we met on the airship. Her name’s Leiah,” Alexander answered before Leiah could introduce herself.

“My name’s Ismene Kokinos,” the girl eagerly came forward to shake hands with her. In her hurry, she almost dropped her own weapon. Leiah began doubting the girl could even lift the thing.

“Robin Heath,” the archer wasted no time with words or handshakes and simply nodded, but his smile made up for his seemingly unfriendly introduction.

They made small talk as they walked. Alexander and Ismene were talking the most, while Leiah and Robin walked behind them and only added a word here or there.

Alexander and Ismene turned out to share their reason for entering Beacon (of course that was one of the first things Alexander asked her), though they had a completely different way of having a go at it. While Alexander poured all his energy into combat and killing Grimm, Ismene felt very uncomfortable on the battlefield, but was still very fascinated by the world of huntsmen and huntresses, so she made it her goal to be at least of some use in the heat of battle by providing insight on the workings of Grimm, knowing their attacks and weaknesses. Robin simply stated that his home village needed a new huntsman since the current one is about to retire, so the village pooled their money and sent him to Beacon. When asked, Leiah repeated the story she told Alexander on the airship.

Suddenly they heard a heavy battle break out straight ahead of them. They exchanged a look and immediately ran forward.


	3. Initiation (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leiah joins Alexander Glorian, Robin Heath, and Ismene Kokinos as they make their way towards the final part of their initiation, but there's a powerful Grimm in their way- actually, two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a direct continuation of the previous chapter, but I had the feeling this would be too long to just paste onto the end of it.

The group emerged onto a clearing and immediately saw that they had found the ancient temple ruin, but also that they were not the first ones there. The clearing led into the ruins of the forest temple, which was a lot bigger than they had expected. One team of students was scattered throughout the clearing, surrounding a Grimm that resembled a giant black snake.

Almost immediately, Leiah’s team sprung into action.

“Leiah, you’re faster, so you should grab its attention while I get behind it!” Alexander shouted as they ran into battle. “Robin, keep on the lookout for any more of them!”

“Guys, it’s not alone!” Ismene shrieked. Leiah and Alexander quickly scanned the surrounding area, but saw no other Grimm than the one attacking the other team.

“What are you-“ “King Taijitu always come in pairs of black and white!” the small girl interrupted Alexander.

“You worry about this one, I’ll keep an eye out for the other one,” Robin offered and turned his back on the fight, scanning the forest surrounding the students.

Leiah slashed at the side of the giant Grimm, attracting its attention away from the other students. She barely dodged its fangs, but managed to slash near its mouth. Right then, Alexander jumped on it from behind, swinging his flail in a full arc, crashing into the monster’s head. The spikes seemed to retract into the ball of the flail slightly, triggering fire dust in the centre of his weapon, which fired off an explosion that propelled him backwards before the snake could retaliate. Unfortunately, the edge of the blast also caught Leiah, who went skidding across the ground before stopping near a fallen student.

“Have you got your relics?” she asked the boy when she caught her breath.

“N-not all of us,” he stuttered. Leiah knew he was very afraid, and that fear might still attract the Grimm’s attention, but as long as her team kept it busy, it shouldn’t go after them.

“Then get the rest of your relics and get out of here. Defeating this thing is not part of the initiation,” she instructed as she got up. She saw Alexander’s armour expand to cover his whole body just before the snake’s tail whipped him halfway across the clearing.

“And what are you gonna do?” the boy asked.

“No idea!” Leiah almost laughed as she ran back at the black King Taijitu before it could start focusing on Alexander, who was just starting to get up.

“What’s the plan?” she yelled to him as she slashed at the Grimm’s tail to get its attention.

“If those guys still have any fight left in them, then I think we can just about kill this thing,” he grinned.

“And if not?” Leiah gasped as she dodged the fangs again.

“Then we run, of course,” he answered, got up, and started closing in for another attack.

“I kind of told them to get their relics and make a run for it,” Leiah admitted when she got a second of peace as the snake’s head turned towards Alexander again.

“Oh, great,” he groaned as he dodged the Grimm’s dangerous bite, but only just, because his full armour slowed him down considerably.

“Guys, the white one’s coming!” Robin suddenly screamed, turned, and fired an arrow at the black snake the team was currently fighting, hitting it near the head, making it roar in pain and fury.

Leiah took the second to turn around and saw that the other team had already gathered the relics – gold and black leaves – and were already disappearing between the trees.

“Oh, great!” Alexander repeated even louder, jumping over the body of the black snake until his flail reached the arrow stuck in its neck, triggering an explosion of ice and lightning.

“Lightning dust in your arrows? Cool,” he gasped for breath as the Grimm collapsed with a shriek, a gaping wound in its neck.

“The white King Taijitu Is here!” Ismene yelled right before the snake itself burst out of the treeline. Seeing its partner’s slowly dissipating body, it let out a horrific screech that must have been heard for quite a distance away.

“The neck is its softest-“ Ismene started right before she was swept away by the white tail.

Robin, taking aim, wasted no time, and quickly shot two parallel arrows at the snake’s neck, but just then it turned its head towards him, his arrows shattering uselessly on its bone-covered face. Robin spat a curse and jumped back before it could attack.

Leiah and Alexander rushed past him for their own attack.

Alexander, being the bigger target, was also a more probable threat, so the monster immediately snapped at him. This time, he didn’t have the time or speed to evade its approaching maw.

Knowing that Alexander’s full armour will protect him from most of the blow, and assuming that his aura would protect him from the rest, Leiah didn’t hesitate as she closed in on the neck, plunged her dagger deep, and pressed the button on the hilt, propelling the blade even further, until she saw it come out the other side.

But the snake wasn’t dead yet. It shrieked, reared, and tried shaking her off, but as much as she pressed the retract button on the hilt, the blade of the dagger was stuck on the other side of its thick white neck like the point of a harpoon. She hung onto the hilt and scales for dear life as the Grimm trashed its head to throw her off, unable to attack her as long as she clung to its neck.

Leiah knew the Grimm was dying, but it was taking its damn time, during which it could still kill her and everyone else. Having nothing to lose, it was even more dangerous than before it was gravely injured.

Suddenly, Ismene grabbed her, gripping Leiah’s hand that held the dagger, and in the other, swinging her halberd.

“Whatever you do, don’t let go,” she shouted a warning, and before Leiah could respond, she swung her halberd into a tree trunk that entered her reach so deep, it immediately got stuck.

The King Taijitu, still in the middle of its thrashing, was moving in the opposite direction. Ismene held onto her halberd and Leiah, while Leah held the dagger. The sudden stop, caused by the stuck halberd, finally pulled the dagger free, straight back through the Grimm’s neck.

The giant white snake wailed one last time before collapsing. An arrow pierced its eye, burying deep.

“And that’s enough of you,” Robin finished.

 

By the end of the day, each passing team of students were celebrating in their respective dorm rooms, including Leiah’s team. Or rather Alexander’s, who was now officially the leader of team ARIL – team Ariel.


	4. Practical assignment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Ariel has finished with most of their exams, and are about to go on a practical assignment: Grimm hunting. They're also accompanied by a professional huntress, Mariamne Igraine, who's there to make sure the kids make it back alive and in one piece.

“If they made me sit through one more stupid lesson, I would’ve died right then and there,” Alexander groaned as they finally got off the train.

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad,” Leiah giggled forcibly, eyeing the woman who was assigned to their team, who she hoped was out of earshot.

“You found them almost as boring as I did,” Alexander corrected her.

“They were a necessary evil,” Robin shrugged

“They weren’t bad at all, you liars,” Ismene said. “Did you actually pay attention? Even I didn’t know that a Beowolf’s hind claws are sharper than its front ones. Shame they can’t attack with those instead…”

“A real shame,” Robin rolled his eyes and Alexander fought back a giggle at the comment.

“Laugh now, but information like that might save your life when you attempt to counter-attack a leaping Beowolf by sliding underneath it,” the woman finally reminded them of her presence.

“Hehe, busted,” Robin sneered at Alexander and Leiah as their faces grew pale.

“And you, mister Heath,” the woman suddenly turned to Robin. “You can thank your observation skills all you want, but no insight into the inner workings of Grimm might be the death of you after all.”

“Hehe, busted,” Ismene stuck her tongue out at the blushing boy.

“Theory being your forte, miss Kokinos, putting it into practice makes it much to be desired, so now that your comrades have suffered through their own version of hell, I expect much improvement from you in the following days,” the woman concluded her intervention.

Team Ariel sneered at the woman, named Mariamne Igraine.

The woman that accompanied them was a veteran huntress, temporarily employed by Beacon Academy for the duration of the students’ field training. Her job was to accompany the team to a real huntsman mission (though a very easy one) to asses the team’s real life combat and cooperation skills, something which doesn’t show accurately enough in training, sparring, or simulation with tame Grimm in controlled environment.

The woman’s greying orange hair was tied in a tight ponytail at the back of her head, and she had goggles ready for use above her forehead. She wore a heavy coat and weather-proof boots, but the most noticeable item on her was the huge water tank that also server as a backpack, with several pockets sewn onto the leather carried bag. Fastened to it on its side was a long spear, which the students have seen transform into a powerful water gun, which shot jets of water under so much pressure they could easily cut through stone and even some metals.

Team Ariel had “suffered” through many classes (with the exception of Ismene), and had also gone through training and sparring. By now, they knew each other rather well and had so far developed a battle dynamic: Leiah was the soldier, and followed any orders she was given by Alexander, while Robin kept him updated with other happenings. Ismene mostly defended the strictly long-ranged archer while also providing information on the enemy.

This was their first real life mission and they were all excited. The assignment was simple: go to a village and follow reports of a Grimm sighting. It was an easy assignment, something a professional huntress like Mariamne would handle easily by herself within a day. They were to deal with the Grimm alone while the huntress observed, but should their lives fall into danger, she was to execute the Grimm herself. In most cases, the intervention would mean the team had failed.

 

After the five had found the village and reserved temporary lodgings in one of the village houses, they set out to gather information. The mostly uneducated inhabitants had trouble coherently describing the Grimm that had been praying on their livestock, so it took the students the rest of the day and a good portion of the next one to piece together enough clues as to what they should expect to fight. Whether or not Mariamne had pieced their reports into a comprehensive whole before them or not, she didn’t show, and was doing a damn good job at staying out of their assignment.

The Grimm was an Ursa, possibly two of them acting separately, but no more than that, since Ursa were generally solitary and only sometimes appeared in duos.

They spent the rest of their second day in the village in preparation for their mission – from triple checking their respective weapons to renewing their information about Ursa from Ismene. Mariamne didn’t show whether she was impatient of their delay or approved of their thoughtfulness and the students secretly hated her for it, though they didn’t dare talk out loud about it. They were expecting at least _some_ interactive feedback as their assignment progressed.

They didn’t have to go and search for their target the next morning, because they were woken up in the middle of the night by ferocious growls and the terrified shrieking of cows and goats. Team Ariel rushed out of the house they were allowed to use, closely followed my Mariamne.

Just as they feared, there were two huge Grimm roaming the outskirts of the village.


	5. Three Grimm bears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle starts, but quickly goes awry as an unexpected enemy breaks up the team's tactic that has worked so far.

“One’s bigger than he other,” Robin noticed.

All heads turned to Mariamne for any kind of feedback, but she simply shrugged: “This is your assigned, so I have no intention of meddling, unless necessary.”

“Right, then,” Alexander drew their attention. “I’ll take the big one while Leiah distracts the smaller one. Robin, you wait for a clear fatal shot. Ismene, stay with Robin, just in case. Understood?”

“Yeah!” the team replied.

“Then let’s go!” Alexander yeller and they all rushed towards the enemy.

Alexander was the first to reach his target and immediately started swinging at it with his flail, loosing one explosion after the other. The smaller Ursa was about to some to its companion’s rescue, when Leiah intercepted it and grabbed its attention with a few slices at its hide. Robin and Ismene stopped a few paces away, the archer readying his weapon for a good moment to shoot. A slight wind that was noticeable before was not gone as he aimed.

Ismene watched the battle with wide eyes, not wishing to miss anything. She analysed the enemy, comparing it to the information they already had on this particular Grimm. Ursa were strong and their coats were so thick they could brush off a badly aimed arrow, which is why Robin waited and aimed. The bear-like beast was very strong, but slow, so while Alexander could just about defend against its attacks, the nimble Leiah had no choice but to dodge.

Nobody but Mariamne noticed a third shadow creeping towards the faraway duo until it roared and charged.

The two students turned around and paled. A third Ursa. If it hadn’t been so close already, they might have noticed it was a lot smaller than the other two.

In his panic, Robin aimed poorly, the arrow simply glancing the side of its pelt. Ismene screamed, half in terror, half notifying the other two that something was wrong at their end. She instinctively took a step back, then as if changing her mind, ran a few paces ahead, using the momentum to swing her halberd even stronger, cutting halfway through the smaller Ursa’s chest. The wound was fatal, but it didn’t start disintegrating before it could let out a loud yelp.

On the other side of the battlefield, Alexander and Leiah were so preoccupied with their own battles, they could only hope Ismene and Robin could handle whatever had sneaked up on them. Once the Grimm let out one final yelp, they were relieved, but only for a moment.

The bigger Grimm Alexander was battling suddenly forgot all about the armoured kid in front of it, and charged at Ismene and Robin. The archer took aim one more time, this time landing a hit in the bear Grimm’s front leg in an attempt to stop its advance, but the thing barely changed its pace.

“Ismene,” he called his classmate, who wasn’t moving to intercept the Grimm at all. Risking a look at her, he saw she was deathly pale, squeezing her mouth shut in a thin line and gripping her weapon like a lifeline.

“Move, goddamnit!” he yelled as he launched at her from the side, knocking to the ground, but a giant clawed paw scooped him out of the air before he was out of its reach. The impact blew all the air from his lungs and the claws cut through his protective aura like it was nothing. He felt extreme pain in his side, was launched through the air, and blacked out before hitting the side of a nearby house.

Ismene saw her teammate’s aura shatter like glass under the paw of the Ursa and she saw its claws tear into him. She couldn’t tear her eyes off him as he hit a building and lay still, even when the Grimm turned to her.

A chain wrapped around its raised front leg, just as it was about to strike the shocked girl, and Leiah dug her heels in the ground to prevent the Grimm from striking down on Ismene.

“Get away from it!” she screamed as she was forced to take a step forward to steady herself against the tugging monster.

“Watch it!” Alexander yelled a warning as he stepped between Leiah and the Grimm she battled before.

“Would you rather let her get killed?” she said through clenched teeth.

“She’s supposed to be a huntress!” Alexander snapped back.

“Save your argument for later and finish this or I will be forced to intervene!” Mariamne cut them off, standing protectively over Robin, her weapon ready for use.

Leiah yelled as she was tugged again towards the huge Ursa. She quickly retracted the chain back into the hilt of her weapon, propelling herself towards the Grimm. She barely dodged its incoming claws by jumping over it, untangling the chain in the process. She held on for dear life on the back of the beast, using all of her strength, stabbing her dagger through the plate covering its face, plunging it deep in its skull. It roared one last time before collapsing right next to the still frozen Ismene. She quickly glanced at Alexander, who just finished his own enemy with one last dust-powered blow to the head.

As both of their Grimm started disintegrating, they rushed to Mariamne who was already doing her best to stop Robin’s bleeding. He was just starting to regain consciousness and was moaning in pain.

“Is he gonna be alright?” Ismene asked as she sheepishly got closer.

“He is stable, but we still have to get him back as soon as possible,” Mariamne said. “I’ll go call in an airship so we get back sooner than by train.” She left, talking on her Scroll.

“What the hell was that all about?” Alexander asked under his breath without taking his eyes off Robin.

“W-what do you mean?” Ismene stuttered.

“You know damn well what  mean!” Alexander suddenly yelled, turning to the small girl and pushing her shoulders. Her shaking legs could barely support her so far, and she fell.

“She was scared,” Leiah quickly jumped between them, even though she was barely any taller than Ismene, so she had to look up to meet Alexander’s eyes.

“Robin got hurt because of her!” he yelled.

“That’s enough!” Mariamne ran closer, pulling Alexander away from the two girls. “For all you know, there might still be Grimm in the area and all of your fear and yelling will definitely attract them. So how about you stop fighting among each other and keep a lookout until our airship arrives?”

“If you’re scared, you do anything to protect what you’re scared for,” Alexander spat before turning away towards the edge of the village.

Leiah helped Ismene to her feet before turning away as well.

Ismene could do nothing but stand next to the kneeling Mariamne and whisper encouragement to Robin, saying they’ll be on their way back soon.


	6. Divide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After defeating the enemies and finishing their assignment, the team heads back home and deals with the consequences of their near defeat.

The airlift home was quiet. Mariamne and Ismene sat next to Robin, who was slumped against a wall. Leiah and Alexander sat further away on opposite sides of the airship, but they could still hear the panting and groaning boy, no matter how far away they sat.

Leiah kept quiet, knowing that any attempt at starting a conversation would end awkwardly and leave everyone in an even worse mood. She occasionally looked at the other passengers and often caught Alexander glaring at Ismene. The girl didn’t notice his stare, but her eyes didn’t appear to focus on her injured friend either, staring at empty space.

Leiah was the quickest one to react when things went wrong back there. She didn’t hear the smaller Ursa approach, but she heard Ismene scream in panic, trying to get their attention, but she was preoccupied fighting the smaller of the original two Grimm. She trusted her teammate could handle one Ursa on their own. She was relieved when she heard it yelp one last time as it died, but shortly after, Robin yelled a warning, and she knew something was not right. She snuck a glance at Alexander to see whether or not he heard Robin as well, but he just stood dumbfounded, looking at the Grimm he was supposed to be fighting as it ran towards Robin and Ismene. She jumped away to gain some distance from her current enemy so she had just enough time to see Robin get flung through the air. When she saw the big Grimm raise its clawed paw again, she didn’t think, just launched her chained dagger at it in an attempt to stop it. Her attempt had been successful, but in the process, she forgot about the enemy right next to her, the one she was originally fighting. Had it not been for Alexander, she would’ve been dead, not being able to move or attack.

Alexander, sitting on the other side of the passenger bay, didn’t remember hearing Ismene or Robin yell at all, so he was that more surprised when the enemy he was up against suddenly forgot all about him and charged at the rest of his team instead. He knew he wouldn’t be able to catch up to it anyway, so he moved on to the enemy Leiah was supposed to be battling, only to find out that she ignored it completely, even though it was charging right at her. He quickly ran between them, yelled a warning, and just about blocked the direct attack. He knew he probably shouldn’t have reacted so badly towards Ismene, but he just couldn’t understand why she would let Robin get hurt. She was always positioned next to him exactly so she could protect him if anything was too close for him to shoot an arrow at.

Ismene’s mind was blank. She wasn’t thinking about anything in particular and the occasional thought that entered her mind quickly dissolved into nothing. She just stared at the floor next to Robin, wishing she could just fall asleep and forget about the world, but she was still terrified and trembling from her near-death experience.

Robin was unfortunately conscious for most of the ride back. The pain was unbearable, moving caused him even more pain, and he didn’t want to complain either, so he only looked around, breathing as deeply as he dared and groaned when the pain spiked. He saw Leiah’s awkward glances towards her teammates, obviously suffering from the tension in the air. Alexander suffered in his own way, glaring at Ismene whenever he thought nobody was watching him.

From as much as he knew the team’s leader so far, he was a very short-tempered guy. Anything as small as a book on his bed Robin accidentally left there would irritate him, so he wasn’t surprised he was so mad about this right now. He assumed Alexander was even angrier right now because he obviously cared about the members of his team, and he was angry that he was angry at something he shouldn’t be so angry at, making him as dangerous as a pot that’s about to boil over any time now.

 

After a relatively short flight, which seemed like an eternity to most of the passengers, the team was split up. Mariamne and Ismene helped load Robin into a stretcher, carried by two paramedics that were already waiting for them when they landed. Alexander and Leiah felt like they would just get in the way, so they watched the four people carry Robin away.

They stood like that until the group wasn’t visible anymore. The first one to move was Alexander.

“Goddamnit!” he exploded, shouting and stomping towards the dorms. Leiah follower him at a distance. “I just can’t believe her! She just stood there, watching as Robin got seriously hurt!”

“We don’t know how badly he was hurt,” Leiah pointed out quietly.

“Mariamne ordered a pair of paramedics and a stretcher. I doubt it was just a scratch, Leiah. For all we know, his life could be in danger right now!” the tall student kept yelling, grabbing the attention of people walking by, but he apparently either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

“We don’t know that,” Leiah said.

“We don’t know it isn’t,” Alexander retorted.

“Stop overdramatizing the whole thing right now,” Leiah growled, grabbing Alexander by the arm, forcing him to stop. “We came back as soon as we could, and he was given over to trained medical personnel as soon as we arrived. Whatever happened back there doesn’t change the fact what Robin is currently in the best hands.”

“What the-“ Alexander started looking at his arm, clenched in Leiah’s grip.

“Now shut up and don’t you _dare_ take your anger out on Ismene, got it?” she hissed through her teeth, yanking his arm as she expected a response.

“Ow! Let go!” Alexander yelled in pain.

“Got it?!” Leiah repeated.

“Got it, got it!” Alexander answered hurriedly.

Hearing what she wanted, Leiah stalked away with not even a glance at Alexander.

“Freaking psycho,” the leader of team Ariel muttered under his breath once the small figure was out of earshot, rubbing his hurt arm.


	7. Evaluation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having come back alive and relatively in one piece, Team Ariel now finds out whether or not they've actually passed their assignment.

Team Ariel was left the rest of the day to recover from their mission. Leiah spent the time reading in her room, Alexander kept sparring against other student, and Ismene kept Robin company in the infirmary. If anyone met Alexander in the hallways, he would ignore them and quicken his pace, and for the first time since they started sharing a dorm room, Ismene and Leiah didn’t chat before bed.

The next morning, the members were called into the headmaster’s office. Ismene pushed in Robin on a wheelchair.

“I have received a report on your assignment from Mariamne,” the silver-haired huntsman said after the tense pleasantries. “The question that we now have to figure out is whether or not you’ve passed the said assignment.”

“Sir, Mariamne didn’t intervene in the mission,” Alexander said slightly too loud.

“Me, not intervening, does not automatically mean you’ve passed,” the huntress responded. “Your teammates barely got back alive because of your actions or lack thereof.” Her eyes noticeably glanced at Ismene at her last words, but the girl didn’t notice because she was staring at the back of Robin’s neck in front of her.

“That’s what being a huntsman is like, right? So? You can get hurt. And then you go back!” Alexander defended himself.

“Alexander,” Leiah started, but she was cut off.

“And then you go back again and again until your luck runs out and you come back in a coffin, or not at all!” the huntress was beginning to lose patience.

“I’m not gonna just bash my head against a tough Grimm, I intend to learn how to beat it!” the young man almost yelled back.

“Alexander, stop talking,” Leiah warned him again.

“This was your first time against an Ursa and you already nearly lost,” the huntress tried asserting dominance again.

“First of all, there were three of them. Second of all, we got back, didn’t we?!” Alexander was now really yelling.

“You-“

“Can you all stop talking like I’m not here?!” Robin screamed to be heard over the arguing. “Yeah, it went south, but Leiah reacted and saved Ismene’s life, and Alexander protected her in turn. We showed teamwork when an unexpected enemy attacked and ruined our tactic. Doesn’t that mean anything?”

“It does,” the headmaster nodded.

“Speaking of protection,” Alexander suddenly turned to Ismene. “Your only roles were information and protecting Robin from close range. After swearing that Ursa never travel in groups of more than two, you didn’t protect Robin either.”

“That’s enough,” Leiah stepped between them. “I told you to leave her alone.”

“Shut up, pipsqueak,” he scoffed, pushing her aside.

“And if _I_ tell you to leave her alone?” Robin said, and to the surprise of everyone, stood up. Unlike Ismene and Leiah, he was almost perfectly level with Alexander in height.

“H-hey,” Alexander stuttered, losing all of his previous rage.

“Now how about you shut up and give someone with a bit more experience than you some time to say something?” Robin hissed through clenched teeth, nodding towards the two huntsmen on the other side of the toom.

Alexander was the first to back off. He stepped back and turned towards the headmaster. Robin almost audibly gritted his teeth as he carefully sat back down, but didn’t say anything else.

“The best solution I see right now is to let team Ariel redo the assignment,” the headmaster proposed. “Of course, you’ll be given time to heal and recover, and then you’ll receive a new mission of similar difficulty. You’ll be given time to prepare and smooth out your tactics and technique. Mariamne, having got to know them somewhat, would you be ready to help them prepare?”

“Of course, sir,” the woman nodded seriously.

“And what do you four think?”

The students exchanged glances. Robin’s face was determined. Leiah’s was relaxed, knowing that they now have clear mistakes to smooth out. Alexander wanted to make sure everyone was united in the decision. And Ismene –

“Can we talk among ourselves and give you an answer later, sir?” she asked.

“Of course, though I’d like to hear your answer soon, because your education will be postponed until you successfully finish your assignment,” the headmaster warned them.

“Tomorrow, then,” Ismene answered, not even looking at her teammates.

“As you wish.”

“Thank you, professor Ozpin,” Ismene bowed slightly and started pushing Robin back towards the elevator without waiting for others to follow her.


	8. Ismene and Irene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ismene shares the story of how she got Irene, her halberd (and the author quotes the first chapter).

In the elevator everyone waited for Ismene to speak, but she stayed silent, not looking up from the back of Robin’s wheelchair. They arrived in the lobby of the main school building when Alexander finally spoke up.

“Are we gonna talk about this, or…” he let his voice trail off.

Ismene stopped pushing Robin.

“I’m…” she started, then paused before whispering something. Leiah and Alexander leaned closer to hear her when Robin jumped, trying to turn around.

“No, why?!” he asked. “Why would you-“

“What?” Leiah jumped in. “We didn’t head. What did you say?”

Ismene shook her head: “In the dorm.”

Robin was about to say something, then thought better of it and shifted in his seat to his previous position.

“What did she say?” Alexander asked him impatiently.

“I’m gonna let her say it when we get back to the dorm,” Robin said grimly.

Alexander was about to object, but Leiah nudged him with her elbow before he said anything.

By the time they arrived in Leiah and Ismene’s dorm room, tears were streaming down the smaller girl’s cheeks. When Leiah, the last one inside, close the door, Ismene sat down on her bed like an empty sack. Alexander and Leiah sat down on the bed next to it, and Robin pulled himself between the two.

There was another long silence.

“What were you trying to say back there?” Leiah asked as gently as she could.

Ismene only hid her face in her palms.

After another pause, Robin said: “If you’re not gonna tell them, I will.”

“No, no, I will,” she shook her head.

They waited for her to start.

Robin finally clicked his tongue and started: “She’s thinking of-“

“I’m thinking of dropping out of Beacon!” Ismene cut him off, her high-pitched voice sounding like a shriek.

“What?” Alexander muttered.

“Oh, don’t make her repeat herself a third time,” Robin said. “She’s thinking of dropping out of Beacon.

“I just-“ Alexander started, then fell silent for a moment. “Sorry, that just kind of surprised me, that’s all.”

“Why?” Leiah wanted to know. “What makes you think you can’t stay?”

“Yeah, you liked the classes,” Alexander added.

“It’s not the classes,” Ismene shook her head again, then looked them in their faces for the first time since they came back. “It’s the Grimm. I can’t fight Grimm.”

“Well, that might be a problem,” Robin frowned.

“Why not? You’re fast, and can dodge them. You have a good weapon,” Alexander counted.

“It’s not mine,” she admitted. “It was my grandpa’s. I inherited it.”

“So he was a huntsman,” Leiah confirmed. “And what, he retired?”

“He died,” Ismene said.

“Well, it happens, you know?” Alexander shrugged awkwardly.

“I was there,” Ismene responded, glaring at him.

There was a very awkward pause.

“What happened?” Robin finally asked.

“My whole family is this whole huntsman clan or something,” Ismene spat. “Even if I weren’t an only child, I would still get dragged into it. So, since my parents didn’t look like they’ll have any more children anytime soon, my grandparents took me under their wing for more… serious training and not just swinging at dummies, as they put it.”

“I get where this is going,” Robin groaned.

“Grandpa wanted me to try using his halberd. Grandma wanted me to just watch. They fought and I got scared. My fear attracted loads of them. I was… so terrifies. Grandpa couldn’t tear his halberd from me in time when they jumped at him. They tore him apart while grandma took the chance, grabbed me and ran. They followed us home, still covered in… _his_ blood. The rest of the family finished them off…” her voice trailed off.

“We’re sorry to hear that,” Robin murmured.

“They could’ve caught is, but they didn’t they were playing with us,” Ismene’s voice broke and she buried her face in her palms again.

“At least you got out of there safely,” Alexander tried lightening the mood.

“Do you know what my grandma said when we came back?” Ismene suddenly screamed. “You’re gonna be fine? You’re safe now? Bullshit! She said it was my fault he died, because I didn’t want to give him the halberd! She said I might as well keep it! Irene… Grandpa named it after her. Peace? I’ll never have peace when I can still remember that woman!”

Ismene got up and started towards her weapon that rested against a wall.

“W-wait a second!” Alexander shouted and got up as did Leiah. All they could think of was which one of them would be able to jump at her the quickest.

“I was eight again back there,” Ismene  sighed, looking at the spike of the weapon as if sizing it up. “I dealt with the small one before the panic froze me, but when I saw the big one coming at me, I saw blood on it and I know exactly who it belonged to.”

“Ismene,” Robin called her name, bringing her back into reality.

She finally looked at them and she wasn’t crying anymore.

“Do you see now why I can’t be a huntress now? What good is a Grimm killer than can’t kill Grimm?”

There was a long pause.

“You thought you were alone again back there, didn’t you?” Robin asked quietly.

“No, I…” Ismene was at a loss for words.

“What did you think of when I pushed you out of the way? Were you surprised?” he asked further. “Or did you think there was a fourth one?”

“It’s not like that at all!” Ismene yelled to stop him.

“I know, I was just guessing,” Robin chuckled, receiving astonished glances from Leiah and Alexander. “Made you think a bit, didn’t I?”

“Y-you…” Ismene growled, then looked away, hiding the twitch of her lips. “You asshole. I’m spilling out one of the worst moments of my life to you, and you find it funny?”

“Not at all! I swear on my mom’s life!” Robin sat up straight, even going as far as putting a hand over his heart.

“As he said,” Alexander interrupted, “you’re part of team Ariel now. Yeah, It went badly, and yeah, you both almost died, and yeah, it reminded you of something that would’ve scared me stiff as well. But Robin pushed you out of the way, and Leiah stopped and killed the Grimm, while I covered her. We take care of each other now.”

“But it was my fault! I didn’t protect Robin like I should have!” Ismene retorted.

“It was as much your fault that Robin got hurt as it was your fault something horrible happened to you when you were eight,” Leiah jumped in. “None of us knew there was a third Ursa out there.”

“I could’ve… told you all this…” Ismene was running out of objections.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to talk about something like that openly either,” Alexander shrugged. “Hello, my name’s Alexander Glorian, I wanna be a huntsman, oh, and by the way, my grandpa died before my eyes when I was eight, and my grandma still blames me for it to this day. Lovely weather we’re having, isn’t it?”

The four students laughed, even Ismene, though she merely chuckled.

“But hey, now we know,” Alexander concluded.

“As I said, you’re not alone in this,” Robin added.

“We’ll try our best to help you get over this,” Leiah nodded. “That is, if you wanna stay at Beacon.”

“Yeah,” Ismene smiled and looked at them. “I wanna stay at Beacon.”

“Awesome, because I’ll need some help with the classes,” Alexander sighed.

“Way to ruin the moment, you idiot,” Robin groaned.

“What?” Alexander asked, though no one was sure whether he was faking his surprise.

“You’re honest. Sometimes too honest,” Leiah grinned.


	9. Getting ready (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alexander, Ismene and Leiah have decided to retake their practical assignment, but they have to wait until Robin's wound has healed, so they fill time with sparring. We also get to know some of their semblances.

The next day, team Ariel confirmed with the headmaster they’re ready to retake the assignment. Mariamne was instantly called back onto academy grounds to help the students prepare. The assignment was three weeks away, giving Robin enough time to heal, though he will have to be careful with his archery due to the position of his wound. He still came to the sparring sessions the other three went through daily.

The one they thought would have to improve the most was Ismene, so Alexander sparred with her first, since their fight styles worked in Ismene’s favour.

They stood on opposite sides of the fight area, sizing each other up. Ismene fixed her stance, and Alexander set his armour to battle mode.

“And…” Robin raised an arm, Leiah sitting next to him, then dropped it quickly, shouting: “GO!”

Ismene immediately launched towards Alexander, who stayed where he was and braced himself. He was just about to swing his weapon to intercept her when she changed direction, circling him instead.

The knight shifted, swinging his weapon in the opposite direction she was running. The halberd moved in to block it, and the chain of the flail wrapped around the long hilt.

Alexander saw an opportunity and kicked with his boot, trying to sweep Ismene off her feet. Ismene had other intentions and pressed a trigger on the grip of her weapon. Intense flames erupted from the opposite side of the blade of the halberd, giving it another burst of momentum, threatening to knock Alexander off balance.

Realizing that once he lost his balance, the fight would be over for him, Alexander rather planted his feet firmly and let go of his weapon. The sudden drop in resistance made Ismene stumble past him, but she regained her footing in time to dodge his punch by ducking. Using the small rocket on her weapon again, it swung parallel to the ground, aimed past Alexander’s legs, so that he was hit with the pole instead of the blade.

Unsure of that to do, he tried taking a step back to gain some distance, but as soon as all of his weight was one the leg that was hit, Ismene pulled her weapon towards her. The blade hooked on the heel of his boot, taking it out from under him.

During his fall, Ismene swung one more time to finally untangle the flail from her weapon and throw it away, and once Alexander fell with a loud thud of armour, pointed at him with the spike of her weapon.

“Got you,” she breathed triumphantly and Alexander responded with laughter, collapsing on the ground.

“You’re about as stable as a bipedal tank, Glorian,” Mariamne approached from behind Leiah and Robin. “Your centre of balance is low, which is good, unless someone takes out your legs and you fall like a dead log.”

“Uh… thanks?” he chuckled as Ismene helped him back on his feet.

“Your semblance is padding, is that correct?” she asked. Alexander nodded.

“Padding?” Leiah repeated.

“Yeah, my aura can basically expand like a sponge to absorb an impact,” Alexander explained. “I normally only use it within my armour, though. You have no idea how the aftershock feels after I’ve been hit hard, like a mouse in a cage. I can also soften a fall like I did during initiation.”

“You mean you just fell out of the sky like a rock instead of thinking of a real landing strategy?” Ismene laughed.

“W-well, yeah, I guess,” Alexander blushed, which made the rest of his team laugh even more.

“And you’ve not unlocked your semblance yet, Kokinos?” Mariamne continued.

“No, Ma’am,” Ismene answered.

“We’ll have to get that sorted if we can,” Mariamne nodded. “Neither have you, Prima.”

“I don’t think so,” Leiah confirmed.

“Right,” Mariamne sighed. “And you, Heath?”

“I calm the wind for my arrows,” Robin briefly explained.

“That’s useful,” Ismene admitted. “You know, since you’re an archer and everything.”

“Right, since I’d like to see Prima fight properly before the day’s done, how about we take a short break?” Mariamne demanded.

“I wasn’t hit at all, so I can go right now,” Ismene offered.

“Yeah, my butt hurts, so I’m out,” Alexander groaned, retracted his armour, and went to sit down next to Robin.

“I’m ready if you are,” Leiah laughed as they took position.


	10. Getting ready (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leiah spars with Ismene, then is challenged by Mariamne, who was watching their training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing two fight scenes in one part is a bit much, so I’m dividing them up into parts, especially because this one’s gonna be a bit longer than the last.

“And…” Mariamne raised her hand, then dropped it, “begin!”

Leiah started moving while the hand was still falling and had already crossed half the distance between her opponent and her by the time Ismene realized she was allowed to begin.

Her hand reached behind her back as she ran, grabbing Ismene’s attention, making her prepare for an attack. Instead, she threw herself onto her side, sliding next to Ismene’s legs, finally drawing her dagger, then stopping.

Ismene was just about to turn quickly using the rocket on the end of her halberd, when Mariamne shouted: “Halt!”

The girls stopped in the middle of their motion like a weird green light/red light game, and looked at the huntress.

“You think this is a joke, Prima?” the woman growled as she got closer.

“No?” Leiah barely held back a scoff.

“You’re sparring because your lack of fighting abilities almost got your teammate killed, not because you might have fun!” Mariamne fumed.

“A-actually,” Ismene stuttered, but Leiah cut her off: “Sorry, but what exactly did I do wrong right now?”

“You stopped your attack when you had a perfect opening after you slipped past her defence,” Mariamne pointed out.

“I was just trying to give her time to stop me,” Leiah shrugged.

“I can fail you if you refuse to cooperate!”

“You _what_?!” Alexander stood up in rage.

“Refuse to cooperate?” Robin turned to her as well. “How is Leiah not cooperating?”

“Yeah,” Ismene needlessly agreed.

“Do you think a Grimm would thank you for giving it a chance to strike?”

“This is just sparring with my friends, for crying out loud!” Leiah finally snapped. “If I see a Grimm, I’ll kill it as soon as I can without getting a scratch! I’m not going to literally stab my friend in sparring!”

“Would you think twice against me?” Mariamne said, pointing at her weapon that she left next to the door.

“Probably not,” Leiah growled.

“H-hey,” Ismene stuttered. “You’re not seriously thinking of going up against each other, are you?”

“Up to her,” Mariamne murmured, glaring at Leiah.

“I have nothing against it,” the other one shrugged.

Mariamne started towards her equipment.

“Oh, you’ve _got_ to be kidding me,” Robin yowled.

“I’m fighting on Leiah’s side then,” Alexander proclaimed, grabbing his weapon.

“Me too!” Ismene chimed in.

“Not a chance,” Mariamne rejected them. “You two aren’t the ones with overconfidence issues I have to teach a lesson in humility to.”

“I’m gonna enjoy this,” Leiah growled under her breath. Only Ismene heard her, which made the girl back off a little.

The two women took their positions.

“A real Grimm wouldn’t wait for you to get into the fight area,” Leiah laughed mockingly as Mariamne readied herself.

“Someone give the signal!” the older woman ordered.

“Umm…” Ismene mumbled, raised her hand, then dropped it: “Go!”

A second passed, then a few more, but neither of the two moved.

“You can begin now,” Alexander notified them, sounding almost annoyed.

“Shut the hell up,” Ismene barked at him, not taking her eyes off the huntress opposite her.

Sensing the girl’s attention was disturbed slightly, Mariamne threw her spear that was attached to a water tank on her back with a spring-like hose. Leiah jumped back, realized she wasn’t out of its reach yet, dodged it only barely, and managed to catch it on the way back. She drew her dagger, slashing across the hose, but her blade didn’t even make a dent.

“You think I’d have a rubber hose?” Mariamne giggled from up close, having closed the distance between them entirely while Leiah was distracted by her spear.

Leiah didn’t get a chance to defend against a close-range knee kick, which struck her right under her rib cage, knocking all the wind out of her and making her sick. She wasn’t given time to recover when a jab struck her straight into her ribcage, knocking her back a significant distance.

The pain and loss of breath almost made her black out for a second, but Leiah was determined to stay on her feet no matter what.

But, when she looked up, Mariamne was in her face already: “A real Grimm wouldn’t let you catch your breath,” before following up with a right swing of her spear, hitting Leiah in the jaw with the blunt of the blade, finally throwing her off balance.

Leiah had enough. She used her arms like springs, turning her fall into a roll until she stopped on all fours, then immediately launched herself at Mariamne’s waist. Her dagger must have slipped from her hand when she was last hit, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was taking the huntress down.

The woman spun as she dodged Leiah’s lunge, but the latter grabbed the springy hose trailing behind her movements, stopping her own momentum while also pulling the woman off balance, who wasn’t expecting her own weapon to be used against her like this.

She let go of the spear part of her equipment like Alexander let go of his tangled flail before, but it was still attached to her back. Meanwhile, Leiah gave the hose one more strong pull, planted a foot on the ground, and extended from the foot to the opposite fist, launching it towards Mariamne’s face. The woman saw her intentions, slapping the fist from the side with her free hand, redirecting it as it only brushed past her face.

Planting the other foot on the ground, Leiah launched herself upwards after her fist, curling her head towards her chest, until the crown of her head collided with Mariamne’s face.

The woman fell backwards on her back and Leiah, still clinging to her equipment, fell on top of her, but stopped.

“Well?” Mariamne grinned past her newly broken nose.

“I don’t have a dagger to stab you with,” Leiah growled into her face and got up. “Overconfidence my ass,” she added to herself as she stalked towards the door, leaving.

“I’ll remember this, brat!” Mariamne screamed after her, getting up.

“I know, you’re not _that_ old, lady,” the girl yelled back and left.


	11. Practical assignment, take two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Ariel and Mariamne travel to retake their practical assignment to continue their schooling.

3 weeks of training back and forth have passed since the team accepted the offer to retake their assignment. Mariamne accompanied them, much to her and Leiah’s displeasure.

The village was a bit less isolated than the one they previously visited. They were following reports of Beowolf sightings near a neighbouring village south of there, though they hadn’t had contact with them in a while, so they were beginning to worry. The team set off.

The walk took them a couple of hours. The first houses were already visible past a hill, so the team decided to make camp where they stopped, because they didn’t want to fight whatever was waiting for them tired from their trek. The sun was past its zenith when they decided to break camp and enter the village.

As soon as they entered, the five knew something was wrong, because there was nobody in sight. They spread out between the houses, looking for any signs of humans living here recently, then regrouped.

“What did you find?” Alexander asked.

“Not a drop of blood, so there wasn’t a struggle,” Robin reported.

“Some of the houses still had some food in them,” Leiah added. “There was a lot of kinds of food, so I doubt they went camping.”

“Maybe they plan on coming back?” Ismene offered.

“Probably,” Alexander nodded.

“So, what now?” Leiah said. “We haven’t found the Beowolf everyone said we should have found, and we haven’t found any people to tell us whether the Grimm is even still in the area or not.”

“I vote we stay the night here and keep an eye out. We’ll rethink our plan in the morning,” Alexander proposed, and the team agreed.

A fire was started in the middle of the village, where the houses encircled them. They didn’t have the best vantage point, but if anything happened during the night in the village, they would know about it. Robin and Ismene were chosen for first watch, though the other two were so nervous they couldn’t sleep anyways. Mariamne was sleeping like a log.

“A case of the missing villagers,” Ismene whispered menacingly, as if she were telling a ghost story.

“I really wanna know what happened here now,” Robin nodded.

“What did the report even say when Mariamne chose it? Because this is a bit weird for our first assignment,” Leiah grumbled.

“From what I know, just eliminating a nearby Beowolf,” Alexander shrugged.

“So much for accuracy when submitting requests for huntsman intervention,” Leiah scoffed.

“Umm…” Ismene mumbled, looking past them. “Guys?”

The team looked over their shoulders slowly, carefully reaching for their weapons.

They saw a small figure, too small to be a Beowolf, but its silhouette was too indistinct in the darkness.

“Who are you?” Alexander raised his voice. The figure shrunk back at the sudden change in volume, then peeked out from behind the building again.

“Do you understand me?” Alexander continued.

Mariamne shifted and slowly got up. “What’s going on?”

“We have company,” Robin whispered back. “Back there, behind that house.”

“Grimm or human?” Mariamne said, sounding annoyed that she was woken up.

“Whatever it is, it’s small,” Ismene answered.

“Well, go investigate it, but be careful, and don’t scare it off. I don’t wanna stay here any longer than I have to.”

The team exchanged glances.

“You two girls should go,” Robin decided.

“Wait, why?” Ismene said angrily. “Let me guess, ladies first?”

“Scaredy cats,” Leiah grinned.

“No, it’s because I’m big and Alexander’s ugly,” Robin explained, receiving a hushed “HEY” from Alexander. “We would scare it off, you wouldn’t. Besides, you can take care of yourselves, right?”

“Scaredy cats,” Ismene repeated, giving Leiah a mischievous wink.

The two girls got up, their weapons at their sides, but ready, and approached the small figure. It shied away when they got closer, and they were uncomfortable as they were forced to leave the light of the fire.

They paused until their eyes got used to the darkness, and the figure kept getting further away, though it wasn’t running from them. In the silence, they heard the pitter patter of feet, so the creature they were following was walking on two legs.

They got closer, but the figure disappeared between the trees of the forest surrounding the village.

“I don’t like this,” Ismene whispered, tugging on Leiah’s sleeve. “We should go back and tell them we lost it.”

“No, I can still see where it went,” Leiah said, pointing to some tracks in the sun-dried earth, barely visible in the dark. The tracks looked like small human feet, but they were brushed away by some fabric.

“Oh my god, it’s a child,” Ismene gasped when she saw the size of the footprints.

“You think it’s an orphan from the village?” Leiah asked her.

“I don’t know, maybe?” Ismene shrugged.

“Let’s follow it a bit further then, before it gets too far,” Leiah said. “We can always turn back, but once we lose it, we’ve lost it for good.”

“You think that’s a good idea?” Ismene asked.

“Unless you want me to keep tracking it and you go back,” Leiah proposed.

“No chance. This is too creepy to let you go on by yourself,” Ismene protested.

“Suit yourself then,” Leiah finished the conversation.

They followed the tracks as best as they could, sometimes losing them for a few paces before finding them again. They stopped when they heard sniffling.

“It’s definitely a child,” Leiah nodded.

“Is it… crying?” Ismene strained her ears.

“It’s all alone in the forest, in the middle of the night. Of course it’s crying,” Leiah pointed out.

“I think I see it,” Ismene pointed. “There, it’s sitting down, or crouching.”

“Waiting for us,” Leiah murmured under her breath. “I have a really bad feeling about this.”

“What do you mean?” Ismene asked.

“It doesn’t… It isn’t scared,” Leiah said.

“How can you tell?” Ismene questioned her.

“A gut feeling,” Leiah explained. “I want to get closer, but I want you to stay here.”

“What?” Ismene hissed.

“I want to get a good look at it, but if it’s a trap, I don’t want us both to get dragged into it.”

“No, no, no, and again, no! We stick together!” Ismene rejected her. “We’re a team, right? Being a team made me stay at Beacon.”

“Team or not, I’m just being practical here,” Leiah sighed. “I’m faster than you. If anything goes wrong, I have a higher chance of getting myself out of trouble than you, so it’s better you don’t even get close in the first place.”

“And if anything goes wrong?”

“You run, get the rest back here, and don’t come to my rescue by yourself,” Leiah instructed.

“And you’ll just be able to hold off any enemy ambush by yourself?” Ismene scoffed.

“What did I just say about getting out of trouble? Of course I’ll run,” Leiah growled.

“I still think this is a bad idea.”

“Tough. If you have a better one, out with it.”

There was a pause.

“You promise you’ll run?”

“If you promise to bring the others back here.”

“Deal.”


	12. Hello, friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leiah investigates the mysterious child in a dark forest, which is possibly full of Grimm.

Leiah got up, and Ismene stayed hidden where she was. The approaching girl covered most of the distance carefully, and drawing her dagger, said softly: “Hey, I’m here to help. I promise not to hurt you.”

The child sniffed softly.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

The child shook in what could’ve been a shrug or nod. As Leiah got closer, she saw a huge blanket covering the child. It must have been scared.

“Are you from the village my friends are at?”

No reply, only another sniffle.

“Can you understand me?”

Another loud, dry sniffle. The girl stopped, wiping the sweat trailing down the side of her cheek.

“Can you get up so I can get a better look at you?”

There was a soft yelp that ended in a growl. Then the child stood back up, leaving the blanket on the dirty ground.

Leiah had trouble identifying any features from what she saw of it. Whether it was a boy or a girl, the child seemed mostly bald, with only a few patches of hair still clinging to its head. It was mostly naked, strange growths protruding from its ragged clothing. Its arms and feet weren’t symmetrical at all, they were unequally skinny and one of its legs even seemed to have a few extra joints a human leg shouldn’t.

Leiah stood her ground until it turned to her. What little moonlight got through the branches gleamed off its red eyes that seemed to give off a light of their own. The colour of its skin felt… off. It seemed completely white in some areas while appearing completely black in others.

“Hello,” the child said in a cracked voice, nodding.

Leiah took a step back, readying her dagger.

“Hello… friend,” the child said again, taking a step towards her.

“Stay back,” Leiah barked.

“Friend,” it repeated, taking another step.

“I said stay back,” Leiah repeated as well.

“Not hurt… friend…” it half growled, turning to the surrounding trees. Something shifted there.

“Ismene! Go get the others!” she shouted without taking her eyes off the child.

“Other… friends?”

“No, the others aren’t your friends.”

“You’re… a friend…” it said, stepping forward some more, until it was caught in a ray of moonlight that shone through a gap in the trees.

The child was disfigured. It was as if someone tore up a Grimm and sewn its limbs on top of a child’s body. Its skin very rarely showed the normal colour of humans. It was mostly black, occasionally covered with irregular patches of white, some of which formed spikes and plates.

“Screw this,” Leiah muttered, taking another few steps back.

“You’re… a friend…” it repeated.

“What do you mean by that?” Leiah snapped. “I’m pointing a dagger at you. What makes you think I’m your friend?”

“You’re… pretty,” the child smiled, then started running towards her. Leiah sidestepped, dodging the child’s disfigured, half-Grimm body, but it didn’t care about her and ran past instead.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” Leiah yelled, running after it.

She chased it for a while until they broke outside the treeline, when the girl realized the trees muffled the sound of a battle coming from the village.

The child stopped, turned, and smiled wide with a mouth full of Grimm’s fangs: “Not… our friends.”

“They’re _my_ friends!” Leiah screamed and kept running past the child to help out her teammates.

“Not… your friends,” the child shrieked before running off into the forest again.


	13. Dog pile of Beowolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leiah returns to the camp, only to find it is currently under attack by a pack of Beowolf.

A pack of around a dozen Beowolf surrounded the group by the time Leiah arrived, and a few were already on the ground, disintegrating.

“Where the hell were you?!” Robin demanded as he shot an arrow from the edge of the battle.

“I was checking out the weird child. What is happening?” Leiah asked confusedly, not sure where to start.

“Ah, just trying to live another day,” Robin responded. “Get in there and kill as many as you can without trying to get killed yourself. Good luck!”

Leiah charged into the first Grimm she saw. It was standing near the edge of the pack, ready to jump in should too many of its packmates die. She launched her dagger straight at its head, piercing it before it could alert the others. She retracted it before continuing.

“Leiah! Over here!” Ismene waved at her from nearby before decapitating a charging monster with a rocket-powered swing.

“Where are Alexander and Mariamne?” Leiah asked as she got closer, hamstringing a Grimm facing away from her as she ran.

“Alexander is straight under a dog pile of about 5 Beowolf, no pun intended,” Ismene pointed at a pile of bodies the Grimm were most interested in. “He’s activated his semblance, but I don’t think he has much more aura to go on. Not sure where Mariamne is, though.”

“Did the old timer run away?” Leiah yowled.

“Don’t think so, I think I’ve caught glimpses of her somewhere,” Ismene shook her head, then yelled: “Duck!”

Leiah did so and a halberd almost gave her a haircut, but when she turned around, a lower half of a Beowolf collapsed, the upper part of it nowhere to be seen.

“We gotta get to Alexander!” Leiah instructed. “Robin seems to be picking the Grimm off from the side-lines, but we gotta get that pile off him.”

The girls nodded and split up.

Ismene started slashing at the backs of the Grimm lightly, not enough to kill them in fear of accidentally hitting and damaging Alexander’s aura, until she got their attention. She dodged a slash from the annoyed wolf-like monster, spun, and mostly decapitated it in one swing, killing it nonetheless. The next Beowolf was not as happy to have been disturbed and snapped its jaws at her, but she gained distance from it, piercing its skull with the spike of her weapon.

Leiah, on the other side of the pile, didn’t dance around it like Ismene was. She jumped straight on, locating a Grimm head, and plunging a dagger straight into it. The Grimm next to it noticed her and raked its claws at her leg, but not piercing her aura. The girl stabbed it’s paw, dragged herself along it, and plunged her dagger in its gaping, howling mouth.

The last Grimm suddenly fell a small distance, until a clang of metal could be heard. Robin immediately took careful aim and shot it straight through its forehead.

The team looked around. The remaining handful of Grimm were running away, and it was pointless chasing after them.

“Good job,” Mariamne laughed, coming from inside a nearby house, clapping mockingly. “Faced with a surprise attack, with not even enough time to get into position.”

Leiah got closer to Alexander and helped him up. His armour was slightly dented from where the last Grimm fell on him, and his aura was completely depleted, but other than that, he seemed fine.

“Does that mean we passed?” Ismene gasped, trying to catch her breath.

“You even made up for some of the mistakes you did the last time I saw you fight Grimm with how many cornered you this time,” Mariamne grinned.

“Yay…” Robin whooped tiredly, cradling his side.

“You okay?” Ismene checked and came closer.

“Yeah, I didn’t open it up again or anything, but I’m still sore,” he groaned and forced a smile. “I’m glad you didn’t freeze up again, though.”

“I-I did, a little,” Ismene admitted. “But then I saw you and Alexander getting attacked, and I knew I wanted to protect you with Irene, because if even you can’t fend them off, I don’t have much of a chance by myself.”

“Proud of you, kiddo,” Robin smirked, gently punching the girl’s shoulder.

“I’m as old as you, you dunce,” Ismene giggled.

“Did at least you come back in time?” Leiah interrupted, turning towards her..

“When I came back, I just saw the Grimm sneaking up on them, but I managed to warn them,” Ismene reported. “You came back not that long after I got here, but they were already piled on top of Alexander.”

“Did you see what I saw?” Leiah asked carefully.

“No, I started running as soon as you told me to. Why?”

Leiah took a deep breath and explained what she saw, describing the disfigured child and recollecting what it said to her. She saw her friends faces grow pale as she went into detail. Even Mariamne was taking her report seriously.

“It called you… a friend?” Alexander asked.

“Yeah, I have no idea either,” Leiah shrugged.

“Probably because you’re the only one that approached it openly, so it didn’t see you as much of a threat,” Robin thought out loud.

“We have to report this sighting immediately,” Mariamne said, getting up and searching her pockets for her Scroll. “We have to get some professionals here as soon as possible. And you, Prima, will tell them what you saw.”

“Understood,” Leiah answered.

It took the new group of huntsmen until morning to arrive, but nobody slept until their arrival. Ismene showed them where the child led them, and Leiah gave them a description as detailed as she could remember of the moon-lit creature.

Once the witnesses weren’t needed anymore, they were ushered back onto the village they originally came from to report that they scared off most of the Beowolf, but that their neighbours have deserted their village. The residents weren’t comfortable with the news, and they promised to keep in touch with the huntsmen as often as possible.

The further away from the weird scene they got, the less team Ariel through about it, knowing the situation was being handled by professional huntsmen. Instead, they celebrated the fact they passed their assignment.


	14. The Beacon Ball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short intermission to let the students of Beacon rest after their exams.

“Can someone check on Alexander? I think he died,” Robin said as his head popped into Leiah and Ismene’s dorm room.

“Why? What happened?” Leiah grinned.

“He just found out his test results,” Robin laughed.

“Let me guess – he failed?” Ismene sighed.

“Nope, he got through!” Robin exclaimed.

“That means we all got through,” Leiah said. “That’s good to hear, now we can all prepare for the festival, and have fun.”

“Are your parents coming?” Robin asked Ismene.

“Yeah, though only them. My brothers and sisters have their own education to think about,” Ismene answered. “And you?”

“Yeah,” Robin said, looking away. “I half wished they would turn the invitation down.”

“Don’t say that,” Ismene waved a hand at him.

“Says the rich girl. Do you know how embarrassing this is gonna be for me?” Robin groaned. “They’re farmers and your parents are a martial arts school. Alexander’s are a part of the global police force.”

“What do your parents do?” Ismene suddenly turned to Leiah, ignoring Robin.

“Oh… Uh, they’re farmers too,” Leiah stuttered.

“That’s great, I won’t be the only farmer child at the party!” Robin whooped.

“Actually, they haven’t responded, so I don’t think they’re coming,” Leiah smiled awkwardly.

“Never mind, I’m gonna be the only farmer child at the party,” Robin seemed to deflate.

Once Alexander joined them, they exchanged test results. Ismene was naturally near the top of the class, with Robin trailing closely behind. Leiah was in the lower half, saying “It’s the effort that counts too,” and Alexander was the lowest score to pass the exams.

A festival was coming up to break the students of Beacon from their exam season-induced apathy. The festival was actually arranged by the townspeople of Vale, Beacon Academy students only helped in it. It was all part of Dust day, holiday about major breakthroughs in dust processing technology, enabling huntsmen and huntresses to use it in their weapons, making them efficient in killing Grimm.

The activity that interested the students most was the Beacon Ball, which invited all of their families to attend a relaxed evening and catch up on each other ever since the students enrolled. For most, this was the first time seeing their families since coming the Beacon, so they were naturally excited.

 

“Over here, over here!” Ismene approached Robin and Leiah at the drinks table, dragging a parent with each hand. “These are my friends, Leiah and Robin. We’re in a team together!”

“Wonderful,” the woman, her mother, said. “Nice to meet you, I’m Aliki.”

“Silas,” the man introduced himself as well, shaking Robin’s hand. Leiah also offered hers and the man reluctantly shook it.

The two were obviously Ismene’s blood relatives. She had her mother’s face and her father’s hair, but they were both much taller and heavier built than her. They were dressed loosely formal, but each of them wore a dark red belt or scarf around their waist, the colour of their martial arts school. The man’s hair was dark red as well, but his eyes were a silver hue that didn’t match it quite well. The woman’s hair was ash blonde and joined up at the nape of her neck in a braid, reaching past her wait like Ismene’s.

“And… which one of you is the leader?” Ismene’s father eventually asked.

“Oh, he’s not here yet,” Robin said. “I think he went to find his own family somewhere.”

“Ah, that’s good,” the man seemed a bit too obviously relieved, and Leiah hated him for it, but stayed quiet.

As if on cue, Alexander half-shouted not far away: “Ah, there’s my team!”

The group turned towards the voice to see a large group of people that was very obviously the Glorian family. The leader of team Ariel was in the front, leading them towards the drinks table.

“They’re… all the same…” Ismene gawked. “Even his mother and sisters…”

They were all relatively tall, strongly built, had the same hue of pale gold eyes and the same colour of dark hair, combed away from the face. The only difference was that the females had longer hair and were wearing high heels, and the males had dark grey ties. Even though the dress code for the Beacon Ball wasn’t specified, they were all strictly dressed in beige and white suits; only the eldest woman, presumably Alexander’s grandmother, wore a floor length dress.

“And this is my team,” Alexander repeated, still a little too loud, when they all came closer.

“Quite,” a woman said, unimpressed. “Will you introduce us?”

“Umm, this is Ismene Kokinos,” he pointed at his friend.

“Ah, the Kokinos family,” the oldest male said, probably Alexander’s father. “Their martial arts school trained some of our best officers. Pleasure to meet you in person.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Commissioner Glorian,” Silas Kokinos smiled and took a step forward to shake the man’s hand. “We don’t hear much from our students after they’ve graduated, so I’m glad to hear they’re putting our techniques to good use.”

“They certainly are,” the other man nodded. “You should consider it an honour to your school to produce such skilled fighters.”

“I might be getting sick from all this fake politeness,” Robin whispered to Leiah, who smirked.

The martial arts master noticed the other two whispering and turned to them: “And, may I ask, what your families professionalize in?”

“You mean what their jobs are?” Robin grinned, simplifying the man’s words. He pretended he didn’t hear him. “My parents are simple farmers.”

The man seemed to recoil slightly at the thought that his daughter is on the same team as a farmer’s son, then tried to hide it by turning to Leiah: “And yours, young lady?”

“I’m no lady, my parents are farmers too,” she smiled, but her eyes glared at the man, challenging the man to respond.

“Well, it takes all kinds to make a world, and farmers are certainly useful,” Commissioner Glorian intercepted the awkward exchange.

“You could say they’re about as important as police officers or martial arts masters,” Robin shrugged innocently.

“Don’t push it,” Leiah warned him.

“I’d listen to your friend there, mister, and start minding my manners,” Silas warned him.

Robin was about to say something back, but Leiah quickly shut him up with a jab of her elbow. The archer’s attention was already elsewhere and he quickly excused himself.

“So, how long have you led the police force, Commissioner Glorian?” Leiah turned the attention to Alexander’s dad.

“It’ll be around 7 years now,” he sighed. “It’s a stressful job, but a satisfying one once everything falls into place.”

“I can imagine,” Leiah nodded politely, sneaking a peek at the pair Robin stopped at. “And you, sir Kokinos? How long have you led the Kokinos martial arts school?”

“That’s Grand Master Kokinos, actually,” Ismene’s mother corrected her. “And we prefer to call the school a dojo.”

“Interesting,” Leiah said absentmindedly.

The pair of adults Robin spoke to must have been his parents. Their hair was a red shade of brown like their son’s and their attire was not informal enough to stand out, but it was laughable if she compared it to the one of the Kokinos or the Glorian family.

“Ah, and this must be the farmer boy’s parents,” Grand Master Kokinos smiled, but his smile didn’t hide the disgust in his voice at all.

Robin noticed him looking at his direction, and started leading his parents towards the other two families. He looked anywhere but his parents or the rest of the party members.

“And these are my mom and dad,” he said simply.

“Hello,” his dad said awkwardly.

“We’re James and Kelly Heath, and this is our son, Robin,” his mom introduced them all at once.

“Very nice to meet you,” the head of the police force smiled kindly and shook both of their hands. “I’m very glad to have met the parents of my son’s team members.”

“Same here, same here,” the farmer laughed loudly.

“Nice to meet you,” Silas nodded and forced a smile, but he didn’t come closer to shake hands until he was obviously prompted to do so by his wife.

“I need some fresh air,” Robin quickly said and started toward the doors to the balcony.

“Is your family coming as well?” Alexander’s mother asked Leiah.

“Sadly, I don’t think they got the invitation on time,” Leiah said. “Bad luck with the post system, I guess.”

“What a shame,” the woman sighed.

“A true shame,” Ismene’s father repeated quietly, but Leiah heard him anyways.

“I need some air too,” Leiah growled and stalked after Robin.

The balcony was mostly empty apart from a pair of students making out in the corner. Robin was at the other end, leaning on the rail.

“You got chewed out by mister Grand Master Kokinos?” he sighed as Leiah came closer.

“Yeah, how did you know?” she said and joined him next to the rail.

“Lucky guess,” he shrugged.

“You hate him too?” Leiah laughed.

“As soon as I saw him walk into the ballroom as if he owned it.”

“I enjoyed telling him about my parents just to see him squirm.”

“Are they really farmers?” Robin asked.

“No idea, honestly,” she said.

“You’re an orphan?”

“I don’t know about that either.”

“…How can you not know?”

“I never met them. I was raised by the village people like every child born into it. My guess is they either dumped me there or are secretly one of the villagers I know and never revealed themselves to me.”

“That’s…” Robin started, then quickly shut up.

“A bit weird?” Leiah casually completed his sentence. “Yeah, I’m not exactly a fan of it either, but since I’m not the only one there who grew up like that, I’m not complaining.”

“So everyone’s raised like that?”

“Yup, boys and girls alike. It’s about as normal for us as it’s normal for you, Ismene and Alexander to grow up with your family and close relatives.”

“Same with your getup?” he asked carefully.

“Careful, you’re about as blunt as Alexander is,” Leiah giggled.

“Sorry,” he quickly apologized. “I am totally off today. I guess I better leave before I offend you too.”

“I was joking!” Leiah yelled after him as he hurried off back inside, but didn’t follow him. She looked around, and the balcony was empty. The young pair must have noticed them and hid away somewhere else.

The girl sighed and leaned on the railing. “All of this old school comparing of each other’s social status is idiotic,” she murmured to herself.

She was about to turn around and head back inside when a small shadow below the balcony caught her attention. She leaned forward slightly to try and see it better.

Red eyes gleamed at her and a dark, unusually large hand extended from underneath its robes and waved at her.

Leiah took a step back as she recognized the Grimm boy. Her mind tried organizing her options.

The Grimm boy was below the balcony, and he noticed her. How did he even get on academy grounds? How did he even get into Vale, with so many huntsmen walking around because of the festival?

She could go downstairs and meet him. Maybe scare him off? What if he had other Grimm accompanying him, like last time?

Her friend’s dad is the Commissioner of the Anima police force. She should just go to him and tell him about the Grimm boy. She reported him after seeing him during their assignment, right? They should be on the lookout for anything like him. They could handle him and whatever pack of Grimm he had hiding in the shadows near him.

She launched herself against the railing to confirm where he was, but the shadow was gone. Her eyes raced across her field of vision, scanning every shadow she could see for movement or a gleam of red eyes, but she couldn’t see anything.

She took a few deep breaths to try and calm down.

The Grimm boy can come into Vale, come onto academy grounds, unnoticed by anyone. He intentionally revealed himself to her.

He can also hide as effectively as he can. He may even be able to cover himself up enough to look like a normal human boy from a distance.

Leiah had no other choice but to return to the ballroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couldn’t choose between Chief Glorian and Commissioner Glorian. Was given advice by someone. Mentioning this out of spite because I was told not to mention it.


	15. A Glorian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leiah urges the team to do something about the Grimm child she just saw, but Alexander is indecisive.

Leiah re-joined her friends at the drinks table. “I really have to talk to you all,” she murmured, then looked at the 3 families, who were in deep conversation. “Just us. It’s really important.”

“How important are we talking about?” Alexander asked her.

“As in I don’t know how important, but in the worst case scenario, people might die,” she said.

“Really important then,” Alexander laughed awkwardly.

“Yeah, let’s go back to the dorm. Everyone’s at the ball,” Ismene suggested.

“I…” Alexander started, looked at his family, and let his voice trail off.

“Really important,” Leiah repeated.

“I can’t just leave my parents here…” he said with a contorted face.

“You can show off some other day, when people’s lives may not be in danger,” Robin growled. “Now come with us or I’m unofficially promoting myself as the leader of team Ariel. I bet your parents would really love how your team members don’t listen to you anymore.”

“You wouldn’t…” Alexander paled.

“Alexander, get a move on,” Leiah groaned as she started towards the exit.

The boy looked at his family one more time before turning his back and following her.

“Oh, Alexander, you aren’t leaving already, are you?” a voice sounded behind him.

He stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around and faced what must be his sister.

“Kleio, I… I really have to go,” he quickly said and tried turning around again, but a strong hand from his older sister stopped him.

“You might have been Alexander before, but tonight, you’re a Glorian, so behave like one,” she snarled, her eyes gleaming threateningly. “Now go back and join the rest of us like a proper 3rd son.”

Alexander clenched his fists, but said nothing. Robin joined his side: “Sorry, but something turned up and we have to go.”

The young woman looked at her brother’s friend with clear disgust, and spat: “A farmer boy like you clearly doesn’t understand the higher socio-political battles, so how about you go on ahead and scram like the vermin you are?”

“Vermin?” Robin repeated and took a step forward. The young woman was barely taller than him.

“Vermin, who should also realize he’s talking to someone out of his league in every possible way and should back off slowly,” Kleio Glorian smirked.

Leiah grabbed Robin’s elbow to stop him from pouncing on Alexander’s sister. “Let’s go.”

“Go on,” Kleio giggled, “but Alexander stays here with us.”

“What’s the holdup?” Ismene came back into the ballroom.

“Alexander’s being pushed around by this stuck-up hag who thinks she’s better than everyone else just because she was born with a silver spoon stuck up her-“

“Watch your mouth,” Alexander suddenly interrupted him. “That’s my sister you’re talking about.”

“I know, and that’s the only thing keeping me from using a few of the more degrading words I know,” Robin spat back without looking at him.

“And you stop talking to my friends like they’re the lowest life beings on the planet,” Alexander turned to his sister, his voice quieter.

“Careful, brother, you’re starting to behave like one of them,” Kleio warned him.

“One of them? You mean as a part of team Ariel? A team I now lead?” Alexander challenged her.

“No, as a commoner,” the woman spat the last word.

“Commoner this, high social circles that!” Leiah shouted at her, letting go of Robin. “He’s not vermin, and he’s not a Glorian! He’s Alexander, and that’s final!”

“Really?” the woman smirked, then turned around and walked away elegantly back towards the rest of her family.

“Kleio, wai-“ Alexander called her, but Leiah shut him up with a punch in the shoulder. “Shut the hell up and follow us to the dorms.”

Alexander grabbed her hand and threw it away from himself, making Leiah lose balance for a moment.

“Do you realize what just happened?!” he screamed at her. “Of course you don’t! Kleio is about to report all of this straight to father and mother! I might lose my standing as the 3rd son of Glorian!”

“Look at my face and guess whether I care or not,” Leiah growled with a snarl. “The Grimm boy I saw back when we were retaking our assignment is right here on Beacon grounds, and we have to find him before something happens. Now you can go back to kissing your family’s shoes like the 3rd son of Glorian or you can come investigate with us like a huntsman of team Ariel. We’ll be in our room, if you decide for the latter.”

Without looking at any of her teammates, she stalked away through the exit and towards the dorms.

“She’s right,” Robin nodded, looking after her. “Hate to put you on the spot like this, but you gotta choose, because right now, you can’t be both Alexander and a Glorian.”

“You’re repeating her now?” Alexander smiled wryly.

“You seemed to understand her high socio-political words back there,” Robin shrugged and left.

“And you?” Alexander turned to Ismene.

“Umm…” she mumbled, watching Robin’s back getting further away. “I think I better go.”

“You’re the only one who should understand,” Alexander pleaded.

“But… I don’t,” Ismene shook her head and looked him in the eyes. “Our lives started the same, but I left the path you’re on back when I was marked a traitor and a murderer. I was effectively disowned, and I can hear my parents considering adopting a strong boy instead of me.”

“So these are my options now? Abandon my family or abandon my friends?” Alexander sighed.

“You can go back there and try patch things up, then catch up with us, maybe?” Ismene proposed.

Alexander looked towards the drinks table. Kleio had already finished talking with their parents, who were now occasionally glancing in his direction.

“It’s too late anyways. Kleio told them everything…”

“Then how about you go with us first and try making up with your family tomorrow?”

“I don’t really have a choice,” he shrugged apathetically and followed her to the dorms.


	16. It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Ariel searches the academy grounds to find the Grimm boy, who finds them.

“How nice of you to join us,” Robin murmured when Alexander entered the room.

“Zip it,” Leiah barked at him. “We have more important things to talk about than how much you don’t like his sister.”

“So, you said you saw the kid?” Ismene started the conversation.

“Yeah, it’s definitelly the same kid as the one we followed back at the village we had to do our assignment at,” Leiah nodded. “Trust me, you don’t really forget something like that.”

“And you said he’s… half Grimm?” Robin checked.

“Some sort of hybrid, or an attempt at a hybrid,” Leiah nodded.

“Wait, that exists?” Alexander gawked.

“Apparently, if Leiah saw one,” Ismene shrugged.

“And you’re completelly sure that’s what you saw?” Alexander asked.

“I am completelly sure I saw a child that had the face and limbs of a Grimm, yes,” Leiah groaned.

“And did you see it as well?” Robin turned to Ismene.

“Leiah told me to turn back and get you guys before it got rid of its cloak,” Ismene said.

“So Leiah’s the only one that saw it,” Alexander said.

“Does it matter?” Leiah asked.

“I’m just saying, it was dark and everything,” Alexander shrugged.

“Ismene and I waited for our eyes to get used to the darkness before we even set a foot in the forest,” Leiah explained and turned to Ismene, who nodded.

“And you’re saying that… _thing_ is here?” Alexander asked.

“Stop with the stupid questioning and just believe her,” Robin sighed. “Whether it’s true or not, she claims it’s here. We have to go check it out anyways and if we find it, we’ll know ourselves whether it’s real or not.”

“Exactly,” Ismene agreed.

“I just don’t like this,” Alexander said. “I mean, we’re chasing some freak of nature and we don’t even know anything about it.”

“It’s basically half human, half Grimm! You know humans and you know Grimm! Can we go now?” Leiah raised her voice.

Without questioning her further, the four students finally went downstairs and outside the main building. They split up, but remained on constant 4 way call on their Scrolls, so if anyone were in trouble, they wouldn’t have to bother with calling the other 3. Alexander went behind the main building towards the training area where they passed their initiation, Ismene went to check around the gates towards Vale, Robin checked the area Leiah saw the Grimm boy last, and Leiah went to the other side, behind the dorms.

Ismene checked her assigned area, which was mostly clear of hiding spots, so she simply stepped in front of the gate and kept her weapon close, in case the Grimm boy tried escaping in ther direction. Robin blended in with the surrounding greenery well in his hunter’s tunic, so even somebody on the balcony wouldn’t notice him. Alexander was too big and his armor too shiny to hide well, so he didn’t bother masking the sound of his footsteps either. He simply walked up to every bush and hiding place he could see and rummaged through it a bit. The training area Leiah was in charge of was desolate as well.

After about an hour of searching, the group met up on the main walkway leading from the gates of the academy to the main building.

“So we didn’t find anything,” Ismene sighed.

“Which means we still don’t know whether or not the Grimm boy, or whatever we’re calling him now, was even here in the first place,” Alexander complained.

“I swear I saw him,” Leiah sneered.

“You’re a hunter, you must have seen some tracks in the grass and dirt where Leiah saw him standing, right?” Ismene turned to Robin.

“The area I checked is a relativelly popular path people go down when they go for a walk,” he shrugged, looking at Leiah apologetically. “I might have seen where the kid stood, but that might have also been where someone stopped and enjoyed the scenery.”

“I don’t like this,” Leiah whispered. “I really, really don’t like this.”

“Okay, what do we know about this kid?” Alexander said.

“He looks more like a Grimm than a human,” Ismene started.

“His eyes glow like a Grimm’s,” Robin continued.

“He moves quickly and can pass off as a human in the dark,” Leiah concluded.

“Right, next up is the big question,” Alexander sighed. “What is he even doing here in the first place?”

“He just waved to me and left,” Leiah said.

“You think he just wanted to see Leiah?” Ismene shrugged.

“Why, though?” Robin asked. “It’s been weeks since our assignment. And even if he did, why do it while almost every huntsman on the continent is in Vale?”

“Because he can…” Leiah whispered.

“…can,” echoed from nearby, drawing everyone’s attention.

There was a small figure, cloaked in heavy fabric which hid its shape and face, but it was definitelly the size of a child. His sudden appearance made Ismene muffle a shriek.

“What are you doing here?” Leiah growled waryly.

“Visit friend,” he answered simply, his voice clearer than last time they spoke. “Talk to… friend.”

“You’ve been practicing,” Leiah noticed.

“Talk… to friend,” the child repeated.

“Well I hope you don’t mind us here as well,” Alexander took a step forward.

“You’re no… friend,” the figure shook its head.

“Aww, I’m not your friend, am I?” Alexander laughed nervously.

“Only… girl friend,” he explained.

“What’s your name?” Robin asked. “You have to have a name, we can’t just call you Grimm boy.”

“No… name. Forgot,” he answered simply.

“You… forgot what your own name was?” Ismene said barely audibly.

“They call… It,” the figure swayed, apparently having no trouble hearing her.

“Your name is It?” Leiah asked.

“It,” the child repeated.

“We can’t call you It,” Alexander frowned, looking around.

“They call It,” the boy insisted.

“Is it short for something?” Ismene insisted.

“They call It,” It repeated, growing impatient.

“How about Itzai?” Ismene offered.

“Shut the hell up, Ismene,” Leiah warned her.

“We can’t just call him It!” Ismene retorted.

“I said shut up!” Leiah shouted. “You. It. Whatever. What are you doing here?”

“It said… visit friend!” It yelled.

“Why do you wanna visit me?”

“It… talk to friend! Friend first friend It had!”

“I’ve had enough of this,” Leiah growled and pulled out her dagger, stepping forward. “Get the hell out of here before I call someone that can lock you up in a lab.”

“Whoa, turn it down a notch,” Alexander grabbed her shoulder, stopping her.

Leiah suddenly pointed her dagger at the figure, ejecting the dagger from the hilt, piercing the small silhouette in front of them.

“What the hell!” Robin shouted, jumping forward to rip the dagger from her hand. Ismene ran towards It, ready to catch him if he falls.

“I didn’t hit him,” Leiah murmured, pressing the second button, retracting the blade of her weapon back to the hilt.

The arrow-shaped sides of the blade caught on the fabric draped over the figure, pulling it towards her. Just as she said, she didn’t hit the child at all. The fabric rushed through the air, uncovering It’s true form.

Alexander pulled Leiah closer to him, his aura expanding around them, ready to absorb any attack. Ismene stopped in her tracks and screamed. Robin let go of Leiah’s dagger, readied his weapon, and aimed.

For a moment, nobody moved.

“Pretty, like friend,” It smiled with his set of sharp teeth that seemed a bit too big for his childish mouth, his eyes glowing blood red.

Without saying anything else, he jumped backwards into the shadow behind him. Robin let go of the arrow he readied, and it flew through the air and into the shadow It just hid into, until a dull thud was heard as it imbedded itself into the ground further away.

“He’s gone,” Leiah sighed.

“He’s freaking fast, that’s what he is,” Alexander giggled nervously.

“He dodged my arrow!” Robin yelled, then cursed.

“What the _hell_ just happened?!” Ismene screamed, her knees giving in, and she collapsed on the ground.

“He’s probably on his way out of Vale,” Leiah nodded to herself and tried leaving, but Alexander’s grip and aura were stopping her. “He saw me and he talked to me. That’s what he said he wanted to do in the first place.”

“Why you, though?” Robin asked, his voice still loud and slightly panicked.

“Hell if I know,” Leiah shrugged. “It must like me because I came up to him back then in the forest without a weapon.”

“Ismene was there with you too, though, and It didn’t call her his friend,” Alexander pointed out.

“You think I like having a friend like It following me?!” Leiah snapped, tearing away from him and his aura. “He’s creepy and annoying and a child.”

“And terrifying,” Robin added.

“Oh, the shock value wore off for me a little already,” Leiah grinned.

“Right,” Alexander nodded, finally releasing his semblance. “What now?”

“We could send your whole family after him. They’re the police, right?” Robin asked him.

“As if they would want to leave the Beacon Ball for something as small as a half Grimm freak of nature that could probably kill dozens of civilians,” Alexander shook his head. “Besides, who would believe us? I trust Leiah, and I didn’t believe her at first either. We’d just be calling wolf, and by the time someone actually decided to come out here, It will have left Vale and join his little Beowolf friends.”

“So we’re not gonna do anything?!” Ismene shrieked and got up. “We’re just gonna let… _It_ leave and dissappear?”

“I doubt we’ve seen him for the last time,” Leiah grumbled.

“I think I would have preffered believing we did,” Robin grimaced.

“Don’t worry, we’ll report seeing him,” Alexander said to Ismene, offering a hand to help her up, but she didn’t take it. She got up on her own, dusted off her knees, and stopmed away.

“And where are you going?” Leiah asked her.

“To the dorm and hide under my bed forever,” she yelled back.

“You really wanna be on your own after meeting It?” Alexander pointed out and the girl stopped in her tracks.

“…Robin, come with me,” she pleaded without turning around.

“We’ll cover for you two,” Leiah offered, patting Robin on the back to get him moving.

“Besides, we have the most reason to go back there,” Alexander’s face contorted as he remembered Kleio and his family.

“Take care,” Robin said, waved, and hurried after Ismene.

“And don’t go anywhere alone for now!” Leiah shouted after him.

“Bathrooms excluded, you perv!” Alexander added.


	17. The Glorian Forces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leiah backs up Alexander at confronting his family about It.

Alexander and Leiah made their way back into the ballroom. It wasn’t hard finding Alexander’s family, who were talking to other seemingly important people at the party. Ismene’s parents must have left for their hotel by now.

Alexander stopped for a second at the door when he saw them, took a deep breath, then continued.

“You’re gonna be fine,” Leiah tried cheering him up.

“We’ll just have to see about that…” Alexander sighed, put on a relaxed smile and approached his father.

“Ah, you’ve returned,” his father acknowledged him. “Kleio said you ran off with your friends.”

The simple way he said it made Leiah shudder.

“Something came up and we went to check it out, but I came back as soon as possible. I apologize,” Alexander said and bowed his head a little.

“Well, what was so important you’d risk making your family look foolish in front of everyone that you had to take care of so urgently?” Commissioner Glorian asked coldly.

“About that,” Leiah jumped in. “It’s about the child I saw a few weeks ago at our practical assignment. I reported it then.”

“So?” the man sighed.

“We have reason to believe he’s in Vale,” Alexander continued. “At least he was, but he’s most likely left by now.”

“The case has been handed upwards, to government officials,” Alexander’s mother butted in. “It’s not our job to look for… whatever that thing was.”

“You can report seeing it, though, can’t you?” Leiah asked.

“We can, but what good will it do if you say it’s already left?” the woman waved a hand at them.

“Well, he couldn’t have gotten far yet,” Leiah tried. “Whoever’s assigned to look for him can now narrow it down to Vale’s surroundings.”

“And may I assume you have evidence of seeing him?” the man sighed, bored of the conversation.

“Yes, four eye-witnesses,” Leiah smirked, trying to surprise him with her answer.

“We all saw him,” Alexander added.

“You all? You mean your Team Ariel?” Kleio giggled mockingly.

“Let us handle this, dear,” their mother calmed her down.

“Is that a problem?” Leiah asked.

“Actually, it is,” a younger man shrugged, most likely one of Alexander’s two older brothers. “A close group of people don’t exactly count as four eye-witnesses, but rather as one. And one eye-witness doesn’t really hold up much credibility.”

“What?” Leiah muttered. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Actually, it makes a lot of sense,” Alexander’s face contorted in realization. “We’re a close group of individuals and could’ve simply agreed on a common story.”

“Congratulations,” Kleio smirked.

“Besides the point, the original sighting also stands on shaky foundations with only one eye-witness, close individuals or not,” Commissioner Glorian continued. “Not only is the matter out of our hands, it is also not about finding this… Grimm boy, as you put it in your report, but rather trying to discover whether such a thing as a half human, half Grimm hybrid can exist. If so, the research broadens into searching for likely origins of such a phenomenon.”

“Well, that’s stupid,” Leiah commented.

“That’s the law, miss,” Alexander’s older brother smiled crookedly.

“I’m tired of this. I’m going back to the dorm,” Leiah sighed.

“I’m coming with you,” Alexander offered.

“It would be best if you didn’t leave a second time, son,” his mother suddenly muttered a warning.

The two students looked at each other, thinking of their “no one goes alone” agreement.

“Fine, then,” Leiah waved them off and walked away, moving to the buffet table and started picking out the remains of what was left there.

“So you went out, leaving your family, to go on a wild goose chase?” Alexander’s second oldest brother, Markos, sneered at him.

“It wasn’t a wild goose chase,” Alexander barked back at him. “We were checking out the Grimm boy Leiah saw earlier this night.”

“So you’re trusting her again? Are you sure she’s not just seeing things?” Kleio giggled, and the two other sisters, Georgia and Eleni, joined her.

“We saw It by ourselves, and we talked to him,” Alexander growled.

There was a moment of silence.

“You… what?” Markos stuttered.

“We went out to find him, and he found _us_ ,” Alexander explained.

“Have I not been clear?” their father asked with a strained voice, his eyes darting around the room to make sure they weren’t grabbing any attention. “I just told you, the matter is out of our hands. It’s up to the higher-ups now and we have no business sticking our noses in their investigation.”

“You don’t, but I have,” Alexander shrugged. “It is stalking Leiah and we have to keep an eye out, since neither you nor the higher-ups want to do anything about it.”

“You should put him on report, father, for interfering with government investigation,” Markos turned to Commissioner Glorian.

“Except you can’t,” Leiah suddenly came closer with a smile.

“Please stay out of this,” Alexander’s mom warned her.

“You can’t report him as if he’s one of your policemen,” Leiah continued. “He’s not in your police force, at least not yet. Until then, he’s on his own, a student of Beacon and our team leader.”

“Don’t talk like you know anything about the Glorian family,” Kleio hissed.

“Do I have to?” Leiah turned to her. “Alexander here’s my friend and I know _him_. I don’t have to know his extended family from his siblings to-”

“You ignorant-“ Kleio began, but the oldest woman, Alexander’s grandmother, interrupted him: “It is late and we should be going. It is impolite to be the last ones leaving this event.”

All eyes turned to her, then politely moved away as to not stare at the oldest member of the Glorian family.

The members of the family said their hushed goodbyes to the other people at the Beacon Ball they were previously talking to, then slowly made their way out of the ballroom. Alexander’s father wished him well with his future studies, while Markos and Kleio looked at him and Leiah with poison in their eyes. Nobody went out of their way to say goodbye to Leiah specifically, but Alexander’s grandmother gave her a long, thoughtful stare that Leiah thought was somewhere between studying and outright creepy.

“We should go back to the dorm now,” Leiah broke the silence as Alexander stared after his leaving family.

“What… just happened…?” he mumbled.

“You stood up for yourself,” Leiah smirked.

“No, you butted in to stand up for me,” Alexander shook his head.

“I was helping.”

“Were you?”

“Like I said,” Leiah shrugged, “I have no idea about the internal politics of your family. And frankly, I don’t give a damn. You’re our leader now, not the 3rd son of Glorian.”

“That’s so… simplistic,” Alexander giggled.

“And it’s true. Now come on, let’s go.”


	18. Team Ariel and It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Ariel discusses It and what they can do about him themselves.

“You don’t get it, do you?! It’s just not the same!” Ismene’s yelling sounded through the empty hallways of the dorms. Alexander and Leiah exchanged a look.

“I really don’t get you,” Robin said loudly. “You were fine last time.”

“Should we go in, or…” Alexander asked.

“I think they should try and settle it by themselves first,” Leiah shrugged. The duo went into Alexander and Robin’s room, but the other two were arguing loudly enough from the neighbouring room, their words were still clearly heard.

“I wasn’t, okay?” Ismene retorted with a shaking voice. “ _You_ made me realize I’m not alone out there. _You_ let me know I have friends that are ready to protect me.”

“Your point being?” Robin asked impatiently.

“My point?!” Ismene shrieked. “Did it not get through your thick skull when I finally gathered my courage and told you guys about what happened to me?”

“I thought I stood by you after that?” Robin scoffed.

“You… did,” Ismene sighed, “and I appreciate that.”

“What’s the problem then, exactly?” Robin asked.

“Can you please try to understand why I’m so afraid of It then?”

“It?” Alexander repeated quietly. Leiah nodded and signalled him to keep quiet.

“I really can’t,” Robin sighed. “ _It’s_ a Grimm. We kill Grimm.”

“A half Grimm,” Ismene corrected him. “So not only am I afraid of his Grimm side, all I see when I imagine him, is his small body of a boy.  _Human_ boy, Robin.”

“He moves like a Grimm and I bet he can kill like a Grimm.”

“I’ve had enough of this,” Leiah growled and went into the next room.

Ismene was sitting on her bed, while Robin was leaning onto the window frame, looking outside.

“What’s up?” Leiah asked in a serious voice.

“You heard all that?” Ismene asked, embarrassed.

“Only the last few bits about It,” Leiah tried shrugging it off. “Alexander and I are back to talk about him with you guys.”

Alexander came in behind Leiah, shutting the doors. “Do you have any idea how loud you were talking? I think even the students at the Ball heard you two.”

“Sorry,” Ismene lowered her eyes.

“It’s okay, I doubt anyone else knows about It,” Leiah said.

“So, let’s get the bad news out of the way first,” Alexander said. “Well… actually, all we have is bad news.”

“Alexander’s family is not searching for It,” Leiah started.

“What?” Robin muttered.

“Yup, which means two things,” Alexander started explaining. “The Glorian Forces are not in charge of looking for him, or anything relating to It at all. They’ve handed it over to higher-ups.”

“Which means?” Ismene asked.

“Not sure, they weren’t really clear about it,” Leiah shook her head.

“That more or less means the government or the military,” Alexander said. “Both are not to be messed with and only handle cases that might endanger the safety of major populations.”

“So they’re at least taking it seriously,” Robin nodded.

“That’s the other thing,” Leiah stopped him. “They’re not even looking for It to begin with.”

“Yeah, they kind of don’t believe Leiah or the rest of us,” Alexander shrugged defeatedly. “Eye witness technicalities. Long story short, we’re not reliable eye-witnesses.”

“So they don’t even believe us?” Ismene asked.

“And that’s where it gets a little weird,” Leiah frowned. “They claim they don’t believe us we saw It, but they’re looking for whoever might be responsible for him anyways.”

“Like… crazy scientists?” Ismene offered.

“And a big lab that focuses on human experimentation, yeah,” Leiah nodded.

“How big of a lab are we talking?” Alexander asked.

“Big enough to secretly recruit huntsmen to capture Grimm and keep them locked up, I guess. Plus kidnapping children to fuse them with Grimm,” Leiah said.

The room was silent.

“I mean, it makes sense, right?” Leiah looked at them. “They can’t just mutate a child out of nothing, and they have to get these children from somewhere.”

“It makes sense, yeah,” Robin nodded, deep in thought.

“And it has to be big enough to get the attention of the military or whatever. That means It is probably not the first human-Grimm sighting,” Leiah continued.

“So, what do we do, then?” Ismene asked.

“Nothing,” Alexander shrugged. “We don’t do anything and stay out of it.”

“It will come back, you know,” Leiah reminded him. “He won’t let us stay out of it.”

“Well, we just avoid him,” Alexander said.

“I say we investigate It by ourselves,” Ismene grinned.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Alexander groaned. “What part of “this is now a government issue and we’ve been warned to stay out of it” don’t you understand?”

“But Leiah’s right,” Robin jumped in. “It will be back and I doubt we can just ignore him. The best thing we can do is try and figure out a couple of these things on our own.”

“I don’t know,” Leiah murmured. “I think it’s a bit risky. Sure, we will see It sooner or later again, but I think meddling with a serious investigation would be a bit stupid.”

“I say we sleep on it and decide tomorrow,” Ismene suggested. “We’re all tired and scared from all that happened tonight.”

“Sure,” Robin nodded.

“I still think it’s a very bad idea,” Alexander grumbled, but Robin escorted him out the girls’ room with a “you can remind us of this again in the morning.”

There was a long silence as the two girls started preparing for bed.

“Can you be honest with me right now?” Ismene asked without looking at Leiah.

“Sure, what’s up?” Leiah responded.

“Are you afraid of It?”

“…I don’t think I am,” Leiah said quietly.

“Doesn’t he scare you? I mean, he’s a human, but can also kill you about as quickly as any Grimm can,” Ismene said.

“I think I just see him differently than you do,” Leiah shrugged.

“I see him as a monster. And you?”

Leiah met Ismene’s eyes for a moment, then looked away.

“I just see a poor kid that’s been through too many horrors.”


	19. Night panic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Ariel is woken up in the middle of the night by Ismene's nightmares.

Leiah wasn’t sure at first what woke her up in the middle of the night. She listened, and heard rain patter outside, and a thunderstorm somewhere in the distance, but the lightning crashes were barely audible through their closed window. She waited for whatever woke her up to repeat herself, and started drifting away when Ismene yelped in her sleep.

As far as they’ve lived together in the dorm, her roommate had mumbled and talked in her sleep, but she was always quiet and never woke Leiah up.

Leiah thought nothing of it and fell back asleep, only to be woken up minutes later by even louder yelling. She got up and started towards the girl’s bed when Ismene started screaming as loudly as her lungs would let her, and thrashing with her limbs, as if fighting off a monster.

Leiah jumped at the girl’s flailing limbs so she wouldn’t hurt herself when the door to the connecting room opened, and Robin and Alexander burst into the room. Alexander tried asking in a hushed voice what was going on, but couldn’t be heard over his friend’s panicked screaming.

Robin didn’t hesitate and jumped at Ismene’s legs while Leiah struggled with her arms. Ismene wasn’t letting up at all, her screaming unintelligible.

“Ismene! Ismene, wake up!” Alexander yelled, holding her head between his hands as gently as he could. “You’re dreaming! You’re just dreaming!”

“Get off me! GET OFF ME! ROBIN!” Ismene’s shrieking pierced their ears.

Without exchanging as much as a look, Alexander and Robin immediately switched positions. Alexander laid down on her feet to hold them down, while Robin held Ismene’s cheeks.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Robin said as softly and as loudly as possible to be heard. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” he repeated, occasionally shushing her when his voice wasn’t enough.

Soon, Ismene stopped kicking and resisting, and as her body stilled, her eyes snapped open, fixating on Robin’s face. A moment later, she burst into tears, wailing. Alexander and Leiah let go, and she immediately curled up into a tight ball, her arms wrapping around as much as they could, protecting her head and legs, her sobs shaking her tiny body.

“I’m gonna go calm down anyone she might’ve woken up,” Alexander excused himself tiredly and got out into the hallway.

Leiah sat down on her bed, trying to pretend nothing happened, picking up a nearby book she’s been reading for over a month. Robin knelt next to Ismene, patting her head, repeating “There, there.” After a while, she uncurled a little and hugged his entire arm tightly, which made Robin tense up uncomfortably, but he said nothing. Leiah tried hiding behind her book even more. Alexander returned, looking between Robin and Leiah.

“Hey,” Robin murmured softly to Ismene. “Are you okay?”

Her head twitched from side to side. Robin looked at the other two and shook his head.

“Wanna tell us about it?” he turned back to her, his free arm resting on her shoulder.

Her body was racked with tremors again as she stifled another sob. Alexander and Leiah exchanged a glance.

“Robin can spend the night here, if it makes you feel better,” Leiah smiled, even though she knew Ismene couldn’t see her. The girl only hiccupped in response.

Alexander went back to his own room, and Leiah followed him, giving Robin her pillow for comfort as he settled on the ground next to Ismene’s bed. He thanked her with a nod. The door dividing the rooms of team Ariel was left open for the first time since coming to Beacon.


	20. Team Lasso

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leiah lets Ismene and Robin sleep, and since Alexander is nowhere to be found, she goes to have breakfast on her own.

Leiah woke up earlier than usual, though with what happened during the night, she might as well not have fallen asleep the second time at all. She looked over to Alexander’s bed, which was surprisingly empty.

She got up from Robin’s bed, and walked to her and Ismene’s room. Ismene was still asleep, clinging onto Robin’s arm. His head was resting on the bed next to her, supported by Leiah’s pillow. They were both breathing calmly. Leiah grabbed some clothes to change into, changed in the boys’ room, and quietly left the other two sleep.

Trying to find Alexander somewhere on academy grounds with his Scroll left forgotten on his nightstand would’ve been next to impossible, so Leiah simply continued with her daily routine. Classes didn’t start for a couple of more hours, so she simply went to get breakfast in the nearly empty cafeteria.

“What was that last night?” a slightly older student asked her. Leiah sized him up.

Only his face seemed to belong to a boy older than her. Even sitting down, he was noticeably shorter than his companions sitting around him. His short red hair was freshly melded with so much hair gel there were no visible strands of hair, just his poor attempts at a mohawk. His face had a piercing, and his ears had small shining earrings as well. His clothes were mostly made up of leather, adorned with spikes. Leiah could barely hold back at a smirk when she thought how tough he is trying to be.

“Our friend had a nightmare,” Leiah answered, not stopping at their table.

“Is she _damaged_ or something?” the student next to him sneered, but the short red-head elbowed him between his ribs: “You’re afraid of bugs, you idiot.”

“Uh, excuse me, praying mantis,” the guy corrected him.

Half of his head was shaved clean of hair, while the other half was covered in very long hair that reached past his shoulder. His face was covered in a poor attempt at a beard and moustache. His bare arms that stretched out of his dark tank top were mostly milky white, occasionally broken up by connecting tattoos. Even hunched over, the student was probably the same height at Alexander, only a lot skinnier.

“We’re sorry to hear that,” the small student said seriously. “Hope she gets better.”

“It’s just a nightmare, not a disease,” the tattooed student shrugged.

“Shut up or I’ll find a praying mantis and throw it at your stupid hair,” the girl sitting opposite him growled.

Her dark brown hair was made into tiny braids, ending in multi-coloured rubber bands, hanging freely from her scalp. She was wearing a bright t-shirt and short jeans, with a sleeveless white leather jacket, which clashed with her dark skin. Rainbow-coloured stockings peeked out of the edges of her black leather boots that reached to her knees. Her nails were similarly bright-coloured, and her wrists had several different bracelets on them.

“All bark no bite,” the skinny student laughed.

The girl suddenly got up from her seat, leaving her unfinished breakfast, and bolted towards the exit that lead to the garden.

“Now you did it,” the short student sighed while blood drained from his friend’s already pale face. “A seat just opened up. You can join us.”

Leiah looked around the other empty tables, and realized the offer was not optional. She pushed away the girl’s tray and sat down with her own.

The short student stood up and offered his hand. Leiah shook it. “Name’s Louis Perk. Second year.”

“Leiah Prima. Freshman.”

“How sweet,” the pale guy smirked. Tim gave him a poisonous stare, but he ignored him. “Sam Cladder.” He didn’t offer his hand, and Leiah didn’t move to offer hers either.

“Owen Price,” a student suddenly introduced himself next to Leiah, making her jump.

“Stop disappearing around new people, idiot,” Louis scolded him.

“Can’t help it,” the student shrugged.

Leiah tried to take a closer look at the person she didn’t notice at all since she came into the cafeteria but even when sitting right next to him, her eyes couldn’t fully focus on his body. All she could figure out was that he was smaller than her, his hair was curly brown, and he had thick round glasses. Her head started throbbing with pain.

“You’re doing it again,” Sam growled, his eyes also not really focusing on his schoolmate.

“I told you I can’t do anything about it,” Owen said, his figure more noticeable as he raised his voice, before he “disappeared” again.

“Don’t mind him, it’s just what he does,” Louis waved his hand in Owen’s general direction.

“I couldn’t mind him if I wanted to,” Leiah laughed uncomfortably. She felt his presence now, but just barely. His Semblance, if that’s what it was, was making her skin crawl.

A yell sounded behind Leiah, which made her duck her head instinctively. Something flew over her shoulder, landing on Sam’s face. Before she could see what it was, Sam shrieked with inhuman volume, slapping whatever it was off his face, and falling backwards from the bench.

A grasshopper hopped away in a panic. Sam got up, noticed it, then glared at the girl who left before, who shrugged: “It was the closest thing to a praying mantis I could find.”

“I will skin you in your sleep,” Sam hissed, sitting back down.

“I’d like to see you try, skin jeans,” the girl stuck out her tongue, and sat besides Leiah in front of her tray.

“This is Ashley Young,” Louis introduced her. “Ashley, meet Leiah.”

“Oh, hi!” she beamed a smile and shook her hand. “I’m really sorry about your friend.”

“Well, she has someone looking after her now, and they’re both asleep,” Leiah said.

“That’s good,” Ashley nodded and continued eating.

“For them. Some of us didn’t get a wink of sleep after she woke us up,” Sam scowled at Leiah as if that was somehow her fault.

“You’re nocturnal anyways, so I don’t see the problem here,” Ashley shut him up.

“We’re team Lasso, in case you were wondering,” Louis sighed. “We’re all second years.”

“Are you younger than us?” Ashley looked at Leiah with surprise.

“Yeah, this is my first year here.”

“I thought you were our age. Must be the bandana.”

“Is that supposed to be some sort of fashion statement, covering half of your face like that?” Sam asked mockingly. “And what’s with the bandages? You sick?”

“It’s how I dress,” Leiah hissed, daring him to say anything else.

“Are you a Faunus?” Louis asked.

“N-no, I just-”

“It’s okay, Faunus are cool with us,” Ashley quickly said. “Louis is a Faunus too, and it’s actually pretty cool.”

The short team leader got up, and swiftly jumped up on the empty table next to theirs. His legs were covered in custom made jeans to partially cover the top halves of his white goat legs. His small hooves clacked against the table as he landed and made a step, then jumped off as lightly as a feather, making more clacking noises as he got back to his seat.

“You’re not afraid of Faunus, are you?” Owen made his presence known again.

“No, not at all!” Leiah quickly answered. “I think they’re actually pretty cool.”

“We are!” Louis laughed.

“So, first year, how do you like the academy so far?” Ashley changed subject.

“I don’t know,” Leiah shrugged. “The classes can get a bit boring, but practical combat is really fun.”

“Ah, the brawn over brains type,” Sam huffed.

Before Ashley could shut Sam up again, Leiah swung her spoon, flinging it hard at Sam’s shoulder. He cursed as the spoon hit bone, bouncing off, and bouncing across the cafeteria floor.

“What exactly did I do to you to be such an ass?” she yelled, arching her back.

“He was born an ass,” Ashley tried laughing it off.

“What’s your problem, psycho?!” Sam shouted, holding his hurt shoulder, which was already turning pink.

“I’m staring at it in the form of a pasty white boy with a lame haircut and an attitude I don’t like,” Leiah growled.

Sam got up, as did Leiah.

“Sit down, Sam,” Louis said calmly, only glancing at him sideways.

“She attacked me with a spoon!” Sam accused.

“I said _sit down,_ Sam,” Louis repeated, a not so hidden threat in his voice. Sam glared at him, about to say something back to his team leader, then thought better of it before sitting back down, continuing to eat his breakfast with one hand.

Leiah kept standing. “If you have a problem with me, say it. But I don’t tolerate poisonous cynicism, so I’d appreciate if you held back your forked tongue.”

“Is that a challenge, short stuff?” Sam smirked without looking away from his food.

“Interpret that as you will. Find me when you come up with a conclusion,” Leiah growled, stalking out of the cafeteria.


	21. Kostya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leiah meets Alexander's family friend, Nicholai Naumov, the combat professor.

Leiah didn’t know where she was going yet. She didn’t want to go to the dorms, and she didn’t want to stay near the cafeteria. There was still some time before classes started, so sitting in front of the classroom would be awkward. She just kept walking until she passed the sparring arena, then decided to go inside. She needed to let off some steam. She was surprised the arena was even open so early, and even more surprised when she saw Alexander in the middle of it, wrestling with the practical combat professor. She stood back and watched.

They must have been at it for some time, because the fighters were sweaty and winded, despite both being heavily built. Alexander didn’t even grunt as fought, while the professor took and gave punches light-heartedly, laughing whenever he got a breather, and praising Alexander’s moves.

The brawl was starting to slow down as they got more and more tired. Alexander had more energy than his older opponent, but professor Naumov had more strength and skill. Every punch Alexander threw at him, he took with relaxed muscles, which slowly drained the younger man’s power.

“All right, that should be enough,” the professor said with a noticeable accent, moving away from the wrestling pad.

Alexander must have not heard him, because he moved in for one more punch, which the professor caught, twisting his arm backwards.

“I said enough,” professor Naumov said more sternly, but not angrily, releasing Alexander’s arm.

“Right,” Alexander panted, lost his balance, then fell on all fours.

Leiah noticed the professor’s eyes see her, but he said nothing to her, offering Alexander a hand.

“Give me a sec,” Alexander said, gently swatting his hand away.

“How much sleep did you get today, Sasha?” professor Naumov asked carefully, his eyes stopping on Leiah.

“Why?” Alexander coughed.

“You know why, because you can’t decide whether you want to throw up or pass out first,” the professor sighed.

“A full eight hours,” Alexander grit his teeth and slowly sat up, his eyes still closed.

“Then why does your teammate there look worried?”

Leiah straightened her back. The way he read her was slightly unnerving.

Alexander tiredly opened his eyes, looking at her. “What?”

“I thought I’d get in some combat practice in before the bell, but I guess you beat me to it,” she shrugged off any of the worry she may or may not have felt, and came closer.

“Sasha got here an hour before you,” the professor mentioned.

That was before Leiah even got up.

“Sasha?” Leiah asked amusedly, changing the subject.

“That’s what he calls me, and I have to call him Kostya,” Alexander sighed.

Professor Nicholai Naumov had very short, almost black hair, small stern eyes that could soften on command, a square, freshly shaven jaw, and a thick neck. There were two considerably large tusks growing from his lower row of teeth, peeking through his lips, giving away the man was a Faunus. He was built like a tank, a silhouette Alexander might grow into one day if he ate a boar a day and trained hard from dawn to dusk. There was even a rumour among the students that he once wrestled an Ursa barehanded and won.

Alexander accepted Nicholai’s hand this time and slowly got up.

“You’re not really gonna pass out, are you?” Leiah asked, trying to sound more amused at his swaying than worried.

“No, Kostya is just teasing,” Alexander laughed.

“You are a child, so why should I treat you any different?” Nicholai scoffed.

“You two seem like you’ve known each other before Alexander enrolled,” Leiah noticed the look they exchanged.

“Yeah, Kostya was one of father’s higher ranking officers before he resigned and devoted his life to teaching us younglings,” Alexander praised him. “He was essentially a family friend. Came to a few of my birthdays too.”

“And you’re Prima, right?” the professor approached her, offering his hand.

“Leiah,” she added and smiled as Nicholai took her hand, bowing, and gently approached her knuckles to his lips, stopping a few centimetres away to not embarrass her further, then letting go.

“You’re so old,” Alexander snickered, but the man ignored him.

“Is Leiah short for Lili?” he asked.

“No, it’s just Leiah.”

“But Lili seems to fit you much better,” Nicholai shook his head. “Like the flower, you’re an innocent child.”

“Innocent?” Leiah repeated, staring at him.

“So young, yet to experience life and let it hurt you,” Nicholai flashed one more charming smile.

“I guess it can be taken that way,” Leiah looked away, hiding the blush by turning the covered side of her face towards the two.

“And your face? Why do you hide it?” the professor said, and she could just barely see him reaching towards her scarf. She slapped his hand away and took a step back.

“I just do, okay?” she snapped at him. Realizing her outburst, she quickly added: “It’s how we do it where I’m from.”

“Most grown men don’t wear shirts in the summer where I’m from, so I understand,” the man nodded knowingly and backed away a step.

“That’s just what you say to excuse how weird you are,” Alexander poked him as he went past him. “I’m taking a shower back at the dorms. See you two losers in class.”

“I’m taking a point off for calling me names, Sasha!” the professor shouted at him, but Alexander just waved his arm over his shoulder dismissively, replying: “That’s for calling me Sasha!”

“I don’t think there’s anyone here I could spar with before class, is there?” Leiah said with a defeated smile.

“I might have recovered enough to go a round or two with you,” professor Naumov said, rolling his shoulders. When Leiah looked at him curiously, he explained: “My Aura and stamina recover a lot faster than Alexander’s.”

“If that’s okay, then I’m up for a round or two,” Leiah nodded.

The professor waited as she set her coat on a nearby chair, because it could be grabbed too easily. She warmed up and the professor stretched.

They both walked onto the wrestling pad and started sizing each other up. Leiah was probably not even half of Kostya’s size or a third of his mass. As with her fight with Alexander, she would have to keep up her speed, because simply outsmarting her opponent, an ex officer, was not likely to happen. And he was waiting for her to make her first move.

He was similarly built to Alexander, so she launched herself forward towards his feet, hoping to take them out beneath him. The man was lighter on his feet than it first seemed, however, jumping straight over her head.

She landed first, twisted her arms, putting her legs beneath her, and jumped at the landed man’s back. The plan was to get an arm around his neck and somehow force him into submission, but the professor had other ideas. As she scrambled to get a grip on his back and neck, he reached over his shoulders, grabbing the shirt on her back, and swinging her over his head.

In the air, Leiah grabbed the arms holding her, and added to the momentum with a swing of her legs. Curling them beneath her right before she hit the ground, she slid between the man’s legs. Because she was still gripping his arms, Nicholai lost his footing, and in order to not land on his neck or head, curled up in a roll, landing on his back instead. Leiah landed on all fours, and because she couldn’t do much with her heavy opponent lying flat on his back, she waited for a moment, observing him.

Professor Naumov felt the grip on his arms finally release, and continued his roll until he was on his legs again. Leiah saw her opportunity, launching at his legs once more right before his footing was finally stable. She elbowed his knees, and pulled his heels under her. Before his chest even touched the ground, she was sitting on his back.

One foot on his right arm, the knee of her other leg on his spine, her left hand was holding down his head, while her right arm swiftly crossed his back, grabbing his left wrist, and pulling it back to his right shoulder blade. The man screamed in pain and surprise, then started squirming. Each attempt at throwing her off was discouraged as she screwed his left arm higher towards his right shoulder, her legs planted firmly on his spine and right arm.

“You fight dirty,” Kostya said in what was something between a cough, a grunt, and a laugh.

“I just won the fastest I could,” Leiah sighed, releasing him and moving away. “Two attempts at sweeping your legs, one succeeded, and two attempts at forcing you to yield, one succeeded. I don’t see where this would have been seen as fighting dirty, considering the size and power difference.”

“Where did you learn that last grip?” he asked as he slowly got up, rolling his shoulders.

“I improvised to take away as much mobility as I could,” she shrugged and looked away.

“You might have to demonstrate it to me again sometime, so I can show it to the guys back at the force,” Nicholai laughed heartily. “Not on me, though,” he quickly added.

“Thank you very much for this quick sparring match,” Leiah said and bowed her head. “I’m going back to the dorms before the classes as well.”

“Yes, we can’t have you smelling of other men, otherwise Sasha might get jealous,” Kostya laughed as he walked towards the showers in the back of the sparring arena.


	22. Conditioned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Ariel is back together again, and ready to move forward.

Leiah's mind was still on the duel she just had as she made her way to the dorms, so only when she entered did she remember why she didn't go back after breakfast in the first place. Ismene was still in bed, sleeping soundly. Alexander and Robin were discussing something in their room.

"Is she okay now?" she asked as she joined them.

"She's asleep, so I guess that's good," Alexander nodded seriously.

"And you? Did you get any sleep before morning?" Leiah turned to Robin.

"Not much, to be honest," he admitted, trying to stifle a yawn at the mention of sleep. "Even after she calmed down, she kept talking in her sleep. I couldn't make anything out, but it kept me awake anyways. I listened for signs of another nightmare, you know?"

"You're such a good cookie," Alexander teased him, gently nudging him with his elbow.

"Well you two would've done the same," Robin said dismissively. He moved to the open window and stretched.

"So what now?" Leiah finally asked.

"Business as usual, I'd say," Alexander shrugged. "Go to classes, not mention what happened. If she wants to talk about it, she will."

"That doesn't sound like such a good idea," Leiah frowned. "We should try helping her. This could be really bad for her and her mental health."

"I agree with Alexander," Robin turned back towards them. "Think how long it took her to come out with what happened to her when she was little. That kind of information was pretty important for her to let us know, and I have scars to prove it. I don't think we should force her to tell us everything."

"I'm not saying we should question her about everything, just... I don't know..." Leiah's voice wandered off.

"Give her time," Robin insisted. "Trust me, I want to help her as much as you two, but she's the one who got through the night the least unscathed."

"Do you?" Alexander suddenly grinned. "I saw you snuggle to sleep together. Nothing escapes my keen eye!"

"You're such an idiot," Robin sighed. "First of all, I'm doing what you would've done if she called your name during her nightmare. Second of all, my main role in any mission is literally looking out for stuff you don't notice, like, I don't know, giant bears and snakes."

"Whoa, calm down, you big softie," Alexander raised his arms in surrender, surprised of the reaction he got.

"Call me adorable nicknames again and I will put glue in your stupid hair conditioner," Robin growled. His threat didn't sound fake.

"You condition your hair?" Leiah snickered.

"I don't think that's important right now," he tried avoiding the question.

"You get to tease me, but she can't tease you?" Robin asked and crossed his arms, his mouth struggling not to smirk.

"Tell me, Robin, what does Alexander's conditioner smell of?" Leiah continued asking.

"Hell if I know, that's what you girls pay attention to. All I know is the bottle is some shade of pink," Robin turned towards the window again, trying to sound indifferent, but his sentence ended with a giggle.

Suddenly, Leiah skipped forward, tugging Alexander's sleeve to tip him towards her, and took a long whiff of his hair.

"I swear I don't know you guys," Ismene groaned from the doorway.

"Did you know Alexander conditions his hair?" Leiah quickly released his sleeve and took a step away.

"It makes it soft!" Alexander argued.

"And girly," Robin said, doubling over.

"It's not girly!" Alexander shouted.

"It's really girly," Leiah nodded with a straight face. "Even I'm not girly enough to use conditioner."

"Yeah, and look where it's got you," Alexander mumbled, clearly offended.

"Oh, what a low blow," Robin commented, still leaning on the windowsill.

"I swear I'll be the one putting glue in your conditioner," Leiah growled.

"Can we stop talking about my stupid conditioner?!" Alexander screamed.

"Please?" Ismene added.

"So, about last night, what was-" Leiah started, but howled in pain as Alexander stomped her foot.

"Look, if you wanna talk about it, you're welcome to whenever you want," Robin quickly said. "If you don't, that's fine too. We just want to let you know, that no matter what, we'll be here for you, because we're a team."

"Yeah, we're a team," Alexander repeated.

There was a pause. Leiah looked at every one of them and smiled. "Yeah, we're a team."


	23. Successor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alexander just received a call from his siblings to come home immediately, and he isn't sure he'll be able to come back...

Team Ariel went to classes together to keep the rest of the day normal, but Alexander’s Scroll went off suddenly during the first class of the day. Everyone expected him to silence it, but to  their surprise, he dashed out of the classroom instead. He didn’t come back by the end of the class, and nobody saw him in the hallways nearby after.

"That's it, I'm gonna go find him," Leiah sighed the next break.

"You're not gonna skip class," Ismene said.

"Hell if I care," Leiah shrugged in responce. "That call must have been important. And I have a bad feeling about this."

"I'm disappointed," Robin smirked and shook his head. "Not surprised, but still disappointed."

Leiah gently poked the recently healed set of scars in his side, but didn't wait for a responce before leaving.

Her first thought was to go search for him in the dorm, but her instincts said otherwise, so she took a detour to the sparring arena. She expected to see Alexander sparring with Kostya, which is what he always does when something's bothering him, but instead, she found them sitting in the far corner of the seats overlooking the sparring mat.

She approached slowly, giving them a chance to notice her and stop talking in case there was something they wouldn't want her to hear, but as she got closer, she realized they weren't talking to begin with. Alexander's eyes were closed, his face turned  downwards as he leaned his elbows on his knees, and Kostya was the only one who noticed her coming closer.

"L ili is fine, right?" he asked Alexander without taking his eyes off the approaching girl.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever," Alexander shrugged. His tone was flat and didn't show any particular emotion.

"We noticed you didn't come back after that call," she started. "I just wanted to make sure everything's alright."

"Yep, everything's a-okay," Alexander  said with fake enthusiasm,  thr owing his arms up, his face in a scowl.

"Sasha," Kostya put a hand on his shoulder gently. "Do not be mad at her. Lili has nothing to do with what's troubling you."

Leiah cringed at the mention of her new nickname, but stayed silent.

"Look, I..." Alexander started angrily, looked at Leiah, and stopped himself. He took a deep breath before continuing: "I know it's neither of your fault, but a part of my universe just collapsed a little, so I think I have the right to be at least a little upset."

"What happened?" Leiah asked.

"Yesterday, after the Beacon Ball, something went wrong. I don't know what or why, nobody's telling me exactly who started it, but my dad and Euclid got into a fight. Long story short, Euclid is not the Successor to the Glorians anymore."

There was a pause as Alexander took a deep breath. Leiah patiently waited for him to continue.

"Essentially, Euclid stepped off as first son of Glorian and with Markos gone, that means I'm technically next in line," he concluded.

"Wait, that's bad?" Leiah asked astoundedly.

"Yes! That's bad!" Alexander yelled and jumped to his feet. Kostya grabbed his arm firmly before he could continue and do something stupid. Alexander gave him a dirty look over his shoulder, but didn’t attempt pulling his hand out of the man’s grip.

"Okay, then explain it to me," Leiah growled. "I obviously don't know anything about internal politics, so how about you cool off before my interest in your familial affairs vanes? And please use simple terms."

Alexander took a deep breath again, but didn't go on.

"The fight for title of Glorian Successor is currently tied between Sasha here and Kleio," Nicholai started explaining. "As you may know, Sasha is 3rd son, and Kleio is 1st daughter. According to male side of siblings, Sasha should be next in line to eventually replace his father, Zeno, as Head of Glorian, but in total, Sasha is 6th child, which makes Kleio a... noticeable candidate."

"Or I could step off, and my role in this race falls to my little brother Simon, who's the 4th son, the 7th and youngest child, and  _ I can't do that to him _ ," Alexander groaned.

"Kleio would be clear favourite in that case," Kostya added.

"Kleio has been waiting for her chance to be named the Successor forever," Alexander shook his head.

"I'm guessing she's the oldest in total?" Leiah asked. Kostya nodded.

"She will kill me," Alexander yelped pathetically and sat back down, burring his face in his palms.

"She won't kill you," Leiah and Kostya said in almost perfect unison.

"I'll have to go home and sort all of this out," Alexander sighed, his shoulders sagging.

"Wait, what?" Leiah exclaimed.

“Yeah, I'll have to leave you three on your own while I go home and maybe I'll even get to come back," Alexander shrugged without looking at either of them.

“You haven't told me this," Kostya interrupted.

"Yeah, think about it," Alexander waved his arm as if he was shooing an annoying fly, "I got to do whatever I wanted because I was the 3rd son, even come here to become a huntsman. If I suddenly rise up to Successor, they might make me leave Beacon and enroll in their police academy or the Kokinos dojo."

"No way!" Leiah shouted, stomping her foot for emphasis. "No way in hell are they making you leave Beacon." After a short pause, she added: "I'm coming with you."

Alexander suddenly burst out laughing, but his laughter certainly didn't feel genuine. "You've got to be joking right now! You, an outsider with no social ranking worth mentioning, sitting in on a Glorian family meeting? Don't be ridiculous."

"She might not, but I can," Nicholai quickly said before Leiah could respond angrily.

There was a pause.

"You can't..."

"Yes, I can. Your father has known me from before you were born."

"You have no right," Alexander waved him off.

"Let your father decide after I speak to him," Kostya reminded him.

"Then it's settled!” Leiah concluded. "We let you go home, send Kostya along, and he'll keep us posted on what's going on, and eventually bring you back."

"Wait, you can't just decide this sort of stuff without me," Alexander looked from one face to another.

"We can, because you're not 1st son of Glorian yet," Kostya teased him and ruffled his hair.


	24. Two empty seats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alexander faces his sister Kleio in a duel for a position he isn't even interested in.

Alexander hated ties with a burning passion since the first time he had to wear one as a child. That time, his mother put it on in a hurry, because they were late to some formal event, and didn't care for his protests that it was actually choking him. Not knowing how to loosen it at the time and not having the chance to ask someone for help, he had to endure the entire night, struggling to breathe properly. His face was probably red, making people look at him weird. Because he was a Glorian, people looked weird at his parents (who didn't notice) too. Served them right.

Now, he loosened it to an acceptable degree, and he smirked at his reflection in the mirror. He wasn't sure if it looked more like a leash or a noose. Either way, the symbolism was perfect.

"Come on, Alex, you're gonna be late," Simon fidgeted near the door leading to the rest of the house.

"What did I say about calling me Alex?" Alexander gave him a sideways look.

"Not in front of the others?" Simon made it sound like a question.

"That's right," Alexander laughed with a faint memory of real happiness, and came closer to ruffle his little brother's hair.

"No, don't!" Simon crouched and dodged his approaching hand. "Mom did it for me, and she would kill me if I came with messy hair!"

"Like she would notice," Alexander shrugged.

"She would! And she would eat me whole as soon as she saw!"

"No, she wouldn't," Alexander sighed tiredly. "Her eyes will be on me. Hers, and all the rest."

There was a heavy pause.

"Are you okay?" Simon asked carefully.

"Of course I am, you bimbo," Alexander flashed the most genuine smile he could muster and pushed the boy towards the doors. "Now go, I have to be the last to arrive, not you."

"All eyes will be on you anyways," Simon said, repeating Alexander's words.

But it was more than a simple statement. It was a warning. The meaning sent chills down Alexander's spine, but he didn't let his smile falter. Not in front of Simon.

Simon left first. It took Alexander a few deep breaths to calm down and erase Simon's parting words from memory.

He left his room and walked down the corridors with careful, measured steps. He counted them, watching the polished tiles disappear under his feet.

The walk felt like walking into battle. In fact, the feeling was so familiar to walking into battle, it made him want to take a detour to the armoury and put on his armour. But armour couldn't protect him from what was coming. He could defeat Grimm with a swing of his weapon. Defeating the following will not be as easy.

He paused in front of the big doors leading to the dining room, which served as a meeting room on occasions like this. He caught a glimpse of himself in a nearby window. He had a very grim look on him, which didn't suit him at all. He relaxed his face muscles, but couldn't keep his brow from furrowing. That was fine, it made him look serious and determined.

He pushed against the big doors, which were designed to open with very little physical force. His nerves caused him to push too much, so he had to quickly catch the handles before the doors swung fully and crashed into the walls of the dining room. He almost smiled as he imagined what his entrance must have looked like. He probably looked a lot less awkward than he felt.

"Ah, Alexander, you've decided to join us," his father greeted him from the head of the table, facing the entrance. "Please, take your seat."

The greeting almost made him frown. He wasn't late, so why did he greet him like that? He also couldn't help but hear the way his father said "your seat." It sounded like he was trying to say: "No matter your status after this meeting, you will sit where you belonged so far, 3rd son of mine."

The seats were all designated, of course. The table was long enough to seat 12 people, but there was rarely a seat opposite father, unless a very important guest was visiting. As he came in, 7 seats were taken, and one was his. Two seats were missing and two were empty.

The seating order might have confused a visitor, but it was a completely natural seating arrangement to the Glorians.

At the head was the Head of Glorian. In this case, it was Zeno, Alexander's father. His features were like that of every Glorian: flat nose, strong eyebrows, dark hair. A few members allowed themselves some deviation, and his deviation of choice was a pair of sideburns which only pronounced his naturally strong jaw more. Both his hair and sideburns were peppered with silver hairs. Father was getting old.

The following seats were from the Head's right to left, from him towards the other end of the table, in descending order.

In 2nd position was Alexander's grandmother and his father's mother, Zenobia. She used to be Head of Glorian, but she stepped down before Alexander was born. Her hair was probably once dark like the rest, but it was now almost completely white from age. Alexander knew his father secretly valued her opinions highly. Today, she had one of her looks—a quiet observer with a very bright set of eyes. Nobody was ever really sure what she was thinking. He honestly found her a little creepy.

In 3rd position, a position she had no right to, was his mother Xeno. She was married into the family from some family she left behind as soon as she moved in. Her hair was almost dark enough to pass for a Glorian, but her nose was small and upturned. She naturally had a very haughty aura around her, but everyone knew her opinions weren't as important as she liked to pretend they were.

Finally, there were the children.

Kleio as the oldest of the children was the closest of the siblings to sit to father, but was sitting on his left, meaning her position was that of the 5th person. The seat opposite her was unnaturally empty, and she kept staring at it.

The missing 4th person was Alexander's brother Euclid. Despite being second born, he was still of higher status than Kleio because he was a son, not a daughter. He was born and raised as Successor to the Head, so Alexander never really saw him around much, but he knew his brother was a good person.

Right after Kleio was another empty seat. That one has been empty for several years, so Alexander rarely gave his brother Markos any thought.

But today, he paid a lot more attention to the empty seats. Markos left several years ago, but if he were here right now, Euclid's role as Successor would have fallen onto him. Knowing Markos, Alexander knew he would have hated the role, but at least the role wouldn't have fallen between Kleio and himself, and he wouldn't be here today.

Alexander heard a light cough. His head snapped to the extra person in the meeting, standing against a wall near the entrance – Kostya. He was here to support him. Alexander was glad for his presence. Kostya suddenly coughed again, and his eyes darted to the gathered Glorians. At that signal, Alexander realized how long he must have been standing there, still holding the door handles, glaring at the two empty seats.

He pulled the doors closed behind him and approached the table. All eyes were on him, and they felt like they were burning holes into his skin like lasers.

He finally took his seat after Georgia and Eleni, only one seat away from Kleio, today's enemy of his.


	25. Pride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Alexander is away, Mariamne's job is to help the remaining Ariel members to train without their team leader.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Leiah groaned as they arrived into the sparring arena.

Sitting there, looking about as disgruntled as Leiah was Mariamne.

“I’m as happy about this as you are, kid,” the huntress murmured.

“So you’re gonna help us train while Alexander’s away, right?” Robin asked.

“Something like that,” the huntress nodded. “You’ve got another practical assignment coming up soon, and since Glorian will remain absent for its duration, We’ll have to pair you with another team.”

“Oh?” Ismene said. “How do we get graded then?”

“You let us figure that one out. Either way, it would be dangerous to send only 3 of you out there without your leader,” Mariamne said.

“Why don’t you join us?” Ismene asked.

Leiah was only one rational thought away from strangling her for proposing they team up with Mariamne.

“You’re joking,” the lady laughed dryly. “You want a professional huntress aid you on a practical assignment?”

“Yeah, we don’t want you to anyways,” Leiah growled.

The two women exchanged a glance so infused with mutual hatred nobody would be surprised if sparks started flying.

“Alright, how about we get started with training for today instead?” Robin quickly said, picking up on the escalating mood.

“Right,” Mariamne cleared her throat. “You’ll be fighting eachother in hand to hand combat. Seeing as one of you is more skilled at that than the other two, I suggest Heath and Kokinos pair up against Prima.”

“Ah, so you admit I’m strong,” Leiah sneered.

“Don’t get cocky,” Mariamne warned her. “You’ve obviously not faced two huntsmen by yourself before. Especially two that knew how the other and even you fight.”

Leiah was about to snap back at her, but thought better of it.

 

They all got on their respective sides of the sparring arena. They all disarmed their weapons next to Mariamne and began sizing eachother up.

Ismene was quick, but her weapon relied on a swing, so she would probably be weak without it. Leiah doubted she alone would be a problem. Leiah herself wasn’t nearly as strong as Alexander, but might be able to out-punch Robin, even though his arms were probably more muscular than he let on. Ismene would just have to wait until she dealt with Robin first. No, a plan could hinder her ability to adapt to the situation.

"You know I'm gonna win, right?" Leiah scoffed.

"Oh shut up," Robin sighed. "It's two against one this time."

"Oh please, we all know you can't hold your own in close combat to save your life."

"Enough bragging, Prima," Mariamne interrupted Leiah’s taunts.

"Seriously, why are you here again?" Leiah sighed, putting her hands on her hips.

"Tutoring contact with Beacon. And I owe Nicholai a favor," she grumbled.

"That's adorable," Leiah prodded further. "Does he have a cute nickname for you too?"

"Alright, go!" Mariamne suddenly announces the start of the battle. Leiah was about to protest, but Ismene and Robin were already moving in to get an early attack.

Robin went the long way around, circling Leiah, while Ismene rushed at her directly. Paying attention to Robin's footsteps after he left her field of view, Leiah parried Ismene's high kick by grabbing her ankle and guided it away from herself.

A knee kick into her side caught her by surprise from the back. The goddamn hunter masked his footsteps, of course.

Leiah sidestepped with the momentum of the kick to keep her balance, and violently threw away Ismene's ankle to push her away. At the same time, she crouched and swept a leg behind her. She expected to hit Robin's remaining leg and topple him over, but he must have expected it, hopping over her kick and unceremoniously punched her between her neck and shoulder, knocking her from her crouch to her knees.

Her left arm flailed in a last attempt to keep her position, but Robin caught it by the wrist and pulled it over her head, tossing her to the side like a doll. Leiah kept the momentum of the spin, rolled over her back, landing on all fours. She didn't even skid to a full halt before pouncing at the archer.

Drawing a bow requires a lot more strength than one would think, so instead of diving at his torso, she remembered the lacking kick and launched herself at his legs instead. Robin tried jumping over her attack one more time, but she anticipated his attempt. Mid-jump, Leiah planted her feet on the ground near where Robin's feet were just a moment ago, and collided her crown with his jaw. It hurt Leiah's head, but it certainly hurt his jaw more. Leiah landed before Robin hit the floor, crumpled and cradling his face in his hands.

"You didn't!" Ismene screamed and came in for a swinging punch from Leiah's left, but her exclamation warned Leiah, who dodged to the direction the punch was going. The punch missed so closely the wind it left behind made Leiah's skin tingle.

She grabbed Ismene's elbow with her left hand, pushing it past its intended path. When Leiah's own elbow approached Ismene's shoulder, she shoved the girl's arm aside, and drew her arm back. Her elbow made contact with Ismene's cheekbone, making her head snap away from the impact, and she stumbled back.

"Where do I even begin?!" Mariamne shrieked in frustration from the sidelines.

Leiah realized she's been holding her breath the whole confrontation and exhaled. "Let me guess, it was all wrong, right?"

"I have so much work to do with you kids," she groaned and ran her fingers over her ponytail that was already falling apart.

"Yeah, but I said I was gonna win," Leiah shrugged.

"Don't start with me again, Prima," the huntress warned her.

"Or what, you'll try to prove a point by losing in a brawl against me again?"

"Your pride will be the death of us all," Robin murmured towards Leiah.

"Oh forget you, you're just a sore loser," she interrupted him.

"Beware, it goeth before the fall," he concluded the quote anyways.


	26. The Dummy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leiah, angry with Mariamne, storms off to do her own damn training.

Leiah stormed off straight into the forest just outside Academy grounds. She followed a different path through the undergrowth so a trail wouldn’t start forming.

It was just something she did. Alexander sparred with Kostya, and she liked real, hard training too, but she didn't like training with people watching. It made her very uncomfortable.

She reached the clearing and walked up to a leaf pile, uncovering a wooden training dummy she once spent weeks carving out of a log. The wood was rubbed smooth in certain places, places she would go for on a living training partner to end the fight as quickly as possible.

She started her session.

She exchanged a few grips, kicks, and punches with the dummy, which almost toppled several times, but she caught it in the last moment and left it to settle back. The wood hurt her muscles through her hand and leg wraps, but the pain only made her punch harder.

She got distracted by her own thoughts and the dummy toppled before she could catch it. Leiah cursed, dived for it, grabbed a peg, and swung it over her curled up body. One of the pegs dug into her side painfully, which made her even angrier. The wood made a satisfying thump as it hit the hardened ground.

But it didn't feel good enough.

She grabbed a second peg, adjusted her footing, and threw the dummy across the clearing. The way it flew through the air made it look like it was moving on it's own.

Leiah launched herself at it, wrestling with the pegs as they rolled over in the dirt several times. Suddenly, a rotating peg hit the side of her head from the left, her blind spot.

Leiah roared.

The stripped scarf flew through the air.

A torn-off arm followed, blood trailing behind it in a beautiful arc. It even landed on her clothes and her wraps.

It was all ruined, she would have to throw them away when she got back, goddammit.

A leg hit her in the side, so she tore that off as easily as she did the arm. More blood, but the leg didn't move, as if it was made out of wood.

A familiar sound snapped her out of her bloodlust. Leiah tracked the sound to her Scroll.

"Yeah?" she grunted, irritated someone was bothering her during her training session.

"Just doing a little bit of training. I'll be there in a minute," she answered to a question on the other side.

She cancelled the call and looked at the maimed dummy. She'll have to make a new one soon because she lost control. Annoyed, she dusted splinters off her clothes and wraps, and went over to pick up her scarf. It got a little bit crumpled, but it will have to do for now. She tied it over her left eye with a trained set of movements, checking if it was tied properly.

She put leaves over the ruined dummy, grabbed her items, and left back for the dorms.


	27. Standing Guard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kostya reflects on his history with the Glorian family as he watches over the Family Meeting.

Kostya was reminded of his police officer days. Back when he was just another dog for the Glorian Forces. He spent countless nights either patrolling or out on a stake-out. The feeling of what can only be called boredom because nothing was happening, but all of his senses had to be alert in case something happened.

He watched the Glorian family meeting passively, forbidden to interfere. He watched hungry eyes, the ones of people who want something and are ready to do anything to get it. The hunger was gleaming from Kleio’s dark golden eyes.

Where was the girl he called Cleopatra?

A small girl, always looking up to her big brothers. She played with Georgia and Eleni behind the house. The younger ones wanted to play with dolls, and Kleio always wanted to play “Kingdom.” It was like playing house, but instead of a family, there was a kingdom, and she always wanted to be king. She stopped wanting to play when Simon told her girls can’t be kings.

Was it then when she stopped looking up to Euclid? Wasn’t that also around the time Markos left?

Ah, there she was. The girl that wanted to be the King. She’s hiding behind the eyes that looked at Alexander so evilly. She wanted to be the King and Alexander didn’t want to be the King, but their father intervened and said Alexander has to play King now.

Instead of kicking the ground, and throwing the dolls across the grass, and screaming while hot tears streamed from her face, she wore a cold expression. Someone who didn’t know her well would think she was enjoying this, but in reality, she waged war against her brother. She wasn’t interested in the war, only in the reward of being the Successor to Head of Glorian.

Kostya silently cheered for Alexander, even though he knew he should stay impartial in all this. Afterall, it was an honor to be present at a Glorian family gathering.

And yet, he couldn’t stop thinking about how much he missed the girl Kleio left behind when she grew up into this cold young woman he saw sitting behind the table today.

The girl was ambitious, but innocently so. She was ready to compromise, and even let her youngest brother Simon play the King’s dog, such a disgraceful role to be played by her own brother. This woman was ambitious, but coldly so. She wouldn’t back off from a position she thinks she deserves best, damned be her brothers and sisters, the unworthy people to be King.

This woman was stirring up a conflict within the family, and this gathering was proof of a storm brewing over the horizon. The children even had to be called away from their important studies. The family will never be the same if she wins.

Kostya watched Zeno closely. They were old friends. They went to the Glorian police academy together, back when his mother Zenobia still held the title of Head. He saved his life a handful of times, and Zeno saved his double times over.

The Commissioner’s eyes watched his children who competed for the role and title of Successor closely. He gave them his attention as they spoke and defended their positions. Kleio talked more, so his attention was turned to her more often than his oldest present son.

Alexander didn’t defend his position as much as Kleio. Of course, he wanted it less than her.

Kostya barely held back a smirk.

Nobody wanted to become the Successor as much as Kleio.


End file.
